Math Is Fun Forum

richard007

Member

Registered: 2008-11-05

Posts: 2

Memorising

hey guys,

does anyone have a good way to memories like pi and numbers and dates, i have school certificate on monday, and if i dont pass i wont be going to year 11 and then im goneeee, stressing out, please help.

All_Is_Number

Member

Registered: 2006-07-10

Posts: 258

Re: Memorising

I use things like model years of favorite cars, friends'/family's birthdays, phone numbers, the pattern my hand makes when I dial a number (can be used for non-telephone numbers, also). Usually one method or another will render an easy to remember association.

How many decimal places of pi do you need to remember? I have 3.141592 memorized (no association tricks), which is far more accurate than I've ever needed for any calculation for which I needed to approximate pi without a calculator. 3.14 is usually sufficient. Some people prefer 22/7, which is also a reasonable approximation for hand calculations.

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You can shear a sheep many times but skin him only once.

richard007

Member

Registered: 2008-11-05

Posts: 2

Re: Memorising

oh no i dont have to remember pi, i just need to remember the rules of it, and the years of like WWII and Gough Whitlams dismissal, and like Australias Federation etc

All_Is_Number

Member

Registered: 2006-07-10

Posts: 258

Re: Memorising

Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. It would take ~3.14 times the length of the diameter to go around the circumference of a circle.

WWII started September 1, 1939 and ended six years and one day later, on September 2, 1945. 1939 can be used to remember the starting date: 1-9-39. Of course, you'll have to remember the year. It's easy enough to remember the century part: 19. But that's only ½ of it. You need to know the other half of the starting date for WW2. 19½ * 2 = 39. There's 1939.

You're not deriving stuff mathematically; you're just trying to give yourself ways to remember stuff. Some stuff you might be able to write in 733T (or however text-speak is written ) to give yourself clues (i.e. it might provide relevant numbers if spelled that way).

If you're a decent storyteller, you might be able to make up little stories that contain information to remind yourself of some things. Mnemonics works well for some people.

There lots of ways to help yourself remember stuff. Not many will work every time, but if you have a few different methods, most of the time one of them will work.

Last edited by All_Is_Number (2008-11-05 21:40:06)

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You can shear a sheep many times but skin him only once.

integer

Member

Registered: 2008-02-21

Posts: 79

Re: Memorising

Memorization and repetition.
If it is of value you will get emotionally involved and it will stick forever.
It is important to know pi out to several decimal digits, but it is practically
useless to know pi to several hundred or more decimal digits.  What would you do
or how could you use such information?
It is much more important to know where to get the information.
Knowing a lot of facts is okay, but knowing how to use information to achieve something
is everything.

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,711

Re: Memorising

It is hard to force it into your memory straight away ... it seems to take time to "sink in".

Try writing down the facts you need to know. Then study them later, again and again, over several days

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"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

Daniel123

Member

Registered: 2007-05-23

Posts: 663

Re: Memorising

stick things around your house.