Posted on 04. Oct, 2009 by Caveman

The Major System

The Major system is a memory technique for remembering numbers of arbitrary length. It works by converting numbers into consonant sounds which are then converted into recognisable words by adding vowels.

These words can then be memorised easily particularly when used in conjunction with other memory techniques. The system is not new and was introduced by Stanislaus Mink von Wennshein (1620 – 1699) and refined by others with the most recent work by Harry Lorayne, author of many popular Memory improvement books.

How to convert digits into letters

Here is the table of numbers and how they convert to letters. The conversion is phonetic so you will notice the choice of letters sound roughly similar.

• 0 – s, z, soft c
• 1 – t, d, th
• 2 – n
• 3 – m
• 4 – r
• 5 – l
• 6 – j, sh, soft ch, dg, soft g
• 7 – k, hard ch, hard g, ng, qu
• 8 – f, v
• 9 – b, p

The vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and the letters h, w and y do not have any associated number so they can be used as fillers or “wild cards” to make the words.

Memorise the substitute letters

The first step in using the Major System is to memorise the substitute letters. This is quite easy:

0 – Zero sounds like s or c. ‘o’ is the last letter of zero
1 – The letters D and T have one downstroke
2 – The letter N has two downstrokes
3 – The letter M has three downstrokes
4 – The last letter of four is R
5 – The letter L can be thought of as the Roman L meaning 50 or a hand spread with five fingers, the index finger and thumb forming an image.
6 – The letter J is the mirror image of 6
7 – The letter K when seen as a capital contains three number 7s
8 – The letter F when handwritten, has two loops, similar to the number 8.
9 – The letters B and P are mirror imags of 9.

How to convert digits into words

Write the letters for each word in sequence but leave some space between them. If there are choices of letter for a number write them above each other. Now look at the letters and see what words you can make by adding vowels or the “wild card” letters.

I memorised my building access code of 3702 as follows. The number translated to M K S N. This made me think of “moccasin”. Now I just imagine a moccasin sitting on top of the security number pad. I haven’t worked in that building since December 2001, and I still remember the code!

Telephone numbers can be remembered easily. For example, the NRMA Car Roadside Assistance number is 13 11 11. This translates to T/D M T/D T/D/ T/D. I thought of “auToMaTeD DuD” as the mnemonic. My car is automatic transmission but since it doesn’t work, it is now a dud (a failure).

Number pegs

The major system is the basis of a larger number peg system. A substitute word is chosen for each number from 0 to 99. The best way to choose the words is to see which word comes to mind when you translate the number into letters. For example, 7 is K or G. How about “key”?

My first ten numbers and associated words are:

• 0 - saw (imagine a handsaw for cutting wood)
• 1 - tie (necktie)
• 2 - Noah (Noah standing on the ark)
• 3 - ma (A large woman wearing an apron)
• 4 - Ra (Looks like a pharaoh mask)
• 5 - law (Imagine a judge’s wig)
• 6 - shoe (brown leather shoe)
• 7 - key (a large, old fashioned key)
• 8 - ivy (a vine of ivy)
• 9 - bee (a large bumblebee)

I have developed my own list of words up to 99 which you can read at the memoryskills blog.

Thinking of words can be challenging at times, but I get help using the 2Know program. Type in the number and the program suggests substitute words from its extensive dictionary. The program is free!

Post Scriptum by Flauwy

Creating your very own peg list will be extremly rewarding afterwards. Although it takes more time to find all the 99 different major words, you will have your own associations and therefor a better chance to imagine them. Also you shouldn’t be afraid of changing some of your pegs after recognising them as too hard to imagine or to similar to another peg. You don’t even have to rely on the major code anymore if you have already memorized them.

For example:

You have learned the worde nose = 20 but you realise it is somehow not good to imagine. But since you already KNOW that 20 is a nose, you don’t have to ga back a step and think about what else could be created by the consonants n + s. Instead of that you could try to associate your new replacement image for 20 with something what jumps naturally into your mind. In my case that would the wooden puppet Pinocchio because its nose is growing with each of its lies. Since it is a natural association you don’t even have to memorize it – it is already in your head. You just decide it once that from now on this will replace the nose. After a while you will not think about the nose anymore but only see Pinocchio instead.

The Major System is an extremly powerful tool and we will use it for further techniques on many ocassions. A great alternative is the Dominic System. In the end it doesn’t really matter which system you are using to create your peg list with 100 items. Either way the list itself will be very important for many of our upcoming articles. Give yourself a treat and create your peg list as soon as possible. It will blow your mind!

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Tags: Major System, pegs