How to Hack Your Memory with the "Major System"

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Ever wonder how that one kid in your school was able to memorize pi to 347 digits? This video will teach you a system that will enable you to EASILY do the same thing - as well as remember phone numbers, dates for history class, and anything else that involves numbers.
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[@ryankaufman3590]

Remembering what numbers are associated with what letters: 0 - Looks like a wheel, which screeches and sizzles like a race car 1 - T and D both have a long vertical stroke in which a one fits 2 - flip it on its side, and it’s shaped like an N 3 - flip it on its side, and its shaped like an M 4 - lay it down and the pointy end goes right up into the bottom of R 5 - put your hand out and thumb to the side. Makes an L. 5 fingers. 6 - cursive J sorta looks like a 6. IDK go with it. 7 - put it diagonally and it fits in a K 8 - cursive F looks like 8 9 - flipped b and mirrored p look like 9

[@againandagain174]

You too this from Neil

[@againandagain174]

Reeeeeeeee

[@sejalb725]

Ryan Kaufman what does “soft” and “hard” letters mean?

[@jchatoyer]

@@sejalb725 Hard C is as in CAT, soft C is as in CERTAIN Hard G as in Green, soft G as in GEORGE

[@workspace9290]

Super helpful. Thanks @ryan. We will be using this technique to teach our students in our upcoming youtube cyhannel

[@DecodeChannel]

I have always had a bad memory, as far back as I can remember.

[@paoloantoniozambranamagri1405]

Decode Channel I can't remember if I've forgotten something or not. It's that bad.

[@paoloantoniozambranamagri1405]

Stefan Djordjevic why, thank you! That's such a great advice. I would have never guessed I should just try to have a better memory! Kudos to you.

[@paoloantoniozambranamagri1405]

Stefan Djordjevic I'm sorry, but I hope you realize that saying "just improve" doesn't help at all? You can say that about anything, but doesn't really give any useful or meaningful information into improving or solving anything.

[@anastasiaalvarezpopova8541]

Decode Channel I

[@introvert.1425]

BUAHHAHAHAHAHAH I see what u did there

[@austinhitchy6996]

Hey man, i appreciate the video. i can't wait to check out more of your stuff. I started reading a book called how to learn anything in 48 hours. lol it was a little more than what i thought it was going to be. The way you talked helped me understand "smashin scope" a lot more.

[@aldusric]

Excellent video. Already waiting the next video about this topic of memory!!! Super useful.

[@geico105]

I use the Hearthstone technique. If two numbers match the Attack and Health of a minion from Hearthstone, I attribute those two numbers to that minion.

[@Thomasfrank]

That's a pretty cool method! I've played so much DDR and Pump It Up that I can also remember numbers as specific arrow combinations, but I figured that wouldn't be so helpful to most other people :P

[@primaregina01]

Thank you for all these useful videos. Keep up the good work 👍

[@calisthenicarts312]

I been subscribed to channel for a long time, you been withholding all the good stuff.😆

[@MrBahuba]

Theres so much dull and mind numbing content on KZbin at the moment. Its so refreshing to see something productive every once in a while on your channel. Thanks for that

[@georgemurry6254]

Very helpful explanation, thank you

[@stevencarney2572]

"Emergency services" number sequence from The IT Crowd used at 0:50. Memorised that when I was about 13, 9 years ago!

[@Thomasfrank]

Glad at least one person caught it :P

[@stevencarney2572]

Couldn't miss it! It's all about the 3.

[@VampsOnCrack]

I will never forget that number! 0118999881999119725...3

[@koxukoshu]

i cant believe i had to scroll all the way down just to find this comment haha

[@stevencarney2572]

KoxuKoshu worth it?

[@RedTornado279]

I love how you always upload videos at the most convenient times, like this the day before my next math test.

[@arckocsog253]

I've been using this memory system for years, just with slightly different letters. You can also use it as memory pegs and remember dozens of items for a shopping list for example.

[@CarlosRMena]

Thanks Thomas. I´m excited for you doing a memory palace explanation

[@janslovi]

Man, I love this channel.

[@shizu3700]

This is awesome. Today I was thinking about if I should use the major system combined with the loci-method (as I need to memorize a lot of numbers and gibberish words in a short amount of time), but I was too lazy to do so. You managed to motivate me to try out the major system now! Thanks, and great work as always!

[@Thomasfrank]

Thanks! I'm finding the Loci works really well in conjunction with the stories. Yesterday I memorized a 112-digit number by breaking it into 8 groups of 14 digits. That means 7 words per group (using 2-digit chunks), hence 8 stories of 7 words each. I think that's a good sweet spot - super-long stories are going to be harder to remember. Loci came really in handy for remembering the order of the stories. I used my bookshelf (going top-down), and picked a book from each shelf to associate with each story.

[@shizu3700]

112-digit numbers seem to be quite the challenge! But I guess once you understand the system well, it serves as a great tool to handle whatever you need to memorize. Yeah, I agree, it’s a great approach to associate small stories with the loci-method. But since I have to remember several different “scenarios” within 1 minute each, including around 8-10 different details per scenario (one detail including a series of random numbers), I found out that creating pictures in my head works out better for me than creating comprehensive stories, by correlating the words (in that case). I use rooms in my apartment and different anchor points within those rooms for each detail I need to memorize.

[@OmerMan992]

Great vid! Looking forward for the memory palace one and a mind map as well please! :)

[@julieyoung7669]

Great vídeo! I always like to know more about memorization techniques. Thanks for talking about it! :)

[@ishwar5936]

Who is here bc of Mike Boyd

[@jayApp00]

Ishwar Mahabiersing me😃

[@ulissemini5492]

me

[@_lilnuggetwithbbqsauce3615]

Me 😁

[@stelioscharalambides8194]

I

[@ezrajosephgoodare]

Me

[@andrewt5114]

Can confirm. I have used this to memorize 100 digits of pi. It's awesome that you're making videos on memory techniques now though. Thanks!

[@asc_near]

This one seems beneficial if you need something committed for life, but in general, it's a bit cumbersome.

[@Thomasfrank]

My experience is that it seemed a bit cumbersome at first, and it took me about 15 minutes to learn the table. But after some practice, it's become pretty much second nature to pick a word and then create an image - the brain is really quick at doing that. Now I can more easily remember things like the combination to my gym locker, or certain phone numbers I wanted committed to memory (in case I ever lose my phone). In a more general sense, though, I think this is a good introduction to memory systems in general, and will combo really well with something like the method of loci once I practice that a bit more. And even though I technically have a phone in my pocket that can store anything I want, I don't want to rely on it too much. Better to have a strong internal memory ;)

[@garylundberg7238]

It's only cumbersome for the first few days. After you get the hang of it it's second nature. Structured memory programs like method of loci are unbelievably powerful and useful in daily life and school. It works on anything, not just numbers. So imagine memorizing all the answers to a big 100 problem test the night before and aceing it.

[@aqe7914]

@@Thomasfrank exactly whoever plays musical instrument knows this, first its hard but slowly you feel your neuropathways being build and becomes so easy that you laugh at your 2-4 weeks earlier

[@sidneyrobinson18]

@@aqe7914 True, I can play the clarinet so easily now that I wonder how I ever struggled with it, and tbh I dont even remember how I learned

[@astromations]

Prefect timing. I am trying to remember the Planck units.

[@michaelschweigart3517]

I've been doing the Major System (and other mnemonics) for years. I need to; it seems like the only way I can remember anything. I can now memorize a 200 single digit number forwards and backwards

[@MrX-vk1jl]

You can also read the book - "Unlimited Memory: How to Use Advanced Learning Strategies to Learn Faster, Remember More and be More Productive" in one of chapters it also covers this system or something similar, although some methods in that book maybe aren't effective (at least I think).

[@lilya.4575]

Hey Thomas! I am a med student, who has an oral exam this mid June. Can you recommend anything or can you make a video about how someone should study for an oral exam? It's so much different than a multiple choice. Next to the ways of how to recall the needed informations on the spot, there is the pressure to sit next to the professor and the fear of failing is making studying almost impossible and I need to ace this exam. I'm sure there are many more students around the world, who would be also very about this topic. And thank you so much for your videos! It helped me a lot to ace my multiple choice exams (which I didn't like before watching your videos). Greetings from Switzerland!

[@arman1367]

Hey, you still a med student?

[@bobhiggins5553]

Literally I just finished a chapter on memory in psychology. And it basically recommended everything you said. XD spot on!

[@AirElegant]

Deliberate practice will improving memory. Great video.

[@thanksforreading33]

Could you do a video on how to do Scott Young's note takeing strategy and on how to be alert and engaged during class?

[@PetiHuber]

Loved to see a video about memory palace. I once read it in a book written by Dominic O'Brein and saw it in the Mentalist, but never found myself being able to use this method.

[@mottebahner2867]

Had to learn for a history exam today, so this comes at exactly the right time😂😂

[@PheseantNetsuke]

Thank you.

[@soakhkwn1646]

Oh my God!! I'm so, so, so excited for a method of loci video!!!!!!

[@UnderscoreZeroLP]

I memorised digits of pi by rote. I wrote a little python program where you have to type in the digits one by one, and if you get one wrong it pushes you back to the beginning and tells you what you got wrong.

[@betty3910]

if you study accountancy ... you really need to remmber a lot of numbers thank you Thomas

[@renpnal229]

I don't have photographic memory, but I can remember long strings of numbers or letters by visualising them in my mind. For example, with the string of numbers you showed in the beginning, I just visualised it and now I can recall it for a while. I can keep remembering it by refreshing the visual image after few days, repeating this until I remember it without even needing to repeat it.

[@renpnal229]

And I have become better at this with practise. I can remember bar codes or words with ease, without needing to use memory techniques, they feel like cheating.

[@neonayolzi1539]

What is you do?

[@EllyXia]

i feel like it is way easier for me to memorize numbers in chinese. because of the four different pronunciations, a number combination kind of has its own melody. perks of growing up bilingual :)

[@Thomasfrank]

That wouldn't surprise me! One of the more general lessons I learned from making this video is that the brain always benefits from having more connections in the web and more paths it can take to reach individual pieces of information. Knowing more than one language provides more paths :)

[@DerSmirf]

Good Idea. Now i need to learn chinese

[@You-are-right-but]

Dude, just photograph page 48

[@mohammedalfateh1034]

fakefake539 Damn 😂😂

[@dianalon12]

I liked the subtle IT Crowd reference. I memorized the emergency services song the first time i watched the episode.

[@AaronDut]

I can also recommed the book "How to Develop a Brilliant Memory Week by Week: 50 Proven Ways to Enhance Your Memory Skills" by Dominic O'Brian. In this book he displays multiple methods of remembering things in specific situations, like names, faces, grocery lists, etc. all with exercises.

[@shervn6940]

Great video, what do you use to edit your videos?

[@oosmanbeekawoo]

Adobe products, as seen on his other vids.

[@Wilpsn]

Pretty nice technique, I've got interested in memorization after trying to learn japanese. I thought it would take years to learn all 2136 joyo kanjis. And then I discovered that people learn all of them in 4 months thanks to the Heisig's Method

[@koxukoshu]

would you mind linking a resource?

[@JuliaOParis]

Hi, I saw your video on summarizing in 6 minutes, but I'm not really sure if I could do sth like that on my own. Could ypu do one video on summarizing more, please? Maybe on a more complex issue. I would be very grateful. Thanks for your time and help

[@sairevanth8094]

Pls make a video on Best Psychology books for Students!!

[@vindieseloncrack3054]

How do you decide on what letter you use for a number, is it just random or are there rules to it?

[@aniketrodge8159]

How about doing the Jonathan Levi SuperLearner course which is really awesome :)

[@NihalDas2]

Hey Thomas. It would be amazing to see videos on Seth Godin. This may be about his books or about things you've learnt from him. Thanks for this video ! :)

[@worldpeacepp]

I like when he try memorizing not only the page number but also the book(context) together by creating scenario for 2 images together.

[@dilnaz6764]

Awesome! Very good video🤩subscribed)

[@cryptic6969]

Thank u

[@BigDaddy-zi3op]

You're amazing!

[@Nskin13]

I love you Tom

[@sejalb725]

what does “soft” and “hard” letters mean?

[@vimtor]

That edit quality tho

[@prateeksingh5728]

Can you explain the holistic learning method in detail..

[@TanookiToadTeam]

This is a good way to come up with some cool new passwords! :)

[@RescueNurse]

It works. Use the system since a year. I did a similar way: I learned the numbers 00 to 100 Now when I learn the number 39 I think of mouse (cause I am German I have different vocals) Good video :) Best regards from your german follower

[@user-nz6si6md1z]

I memorize phone numbers by repeating it over and over in a melodic way. I also write it down a few times and look for little clues that help me remember it even better.

[@jchatoyer]

Thanks great video! A small point: Should’nt TH be 8 not 1?

[@AutomotiveIndex007]

Your upload schedule is all over the place

[@That1Yoshii]

I recognize that background music but there doesn't seem to be anything in the description.

[@isaacharper4528]

How do you know which letters in your words are for the numbers?

[@coced]

tried the loci method but i have much better results when i do it with lyrics of a song i know instead of a path

[@gabyshrivastava1280]

All the best for a million

[@devendrabangar8372]

Do a video on how to improve comprehension.. Also how to not think about anything else while reading .. My prob .. while reading technical books I tend to procrastinate.. like.. Ohh this thing is good .. i will tell my colleagues abt this nd impress them... Why there is a constant need to impress ppl.. I don't know in which category of procrastination this comes in.. if u can help me with this ...pls help..

[@truthful4u]

He's a genius!

[@samsonrejoy5926]

Sir,please give me some tips to memorize important dates with events..i hav to study almost 200 of these days

[@chrisrobinson3934]

It's cool that you can use it for something as simple as remembering which page of Seth Godin's book you were on (and I love Seth Godin) - but you were in a coffee shop, you could have used a napkin as a bookmark. :)

[@mariahhassan6554]

Thomas, you said you read 25 pages everyday. Did you have time to read books in college too? (i dont mean required reading)

[@screechez]

This seems so complicated.

[@irishpolyglot]

Most mnemonic systems are an upfront seemingly cumbersome investment of time, but then you internalize it and get better at it, and you go into "autopilot" and simply remember the things more efficiently. Rote memorization isn't complicated enough.

[@UserName-ii1ce]

Life is complicated

[@ClipsByLaura]

Even though I can remember complicated plot details of movies I have seen years ago, I cannot to save my life remember a number consisting of more than four digits, not even for a minute. So, of course, I am intrigued by this method.

[@FrosteeFour]

thanks for the new vid, dad

[@user-eb9xs1sk4t]

Bro, I am from Russia and I began to study english recently. I want say thank you for your content and subtitles))))) You support me. P.S. Надеюсь, что ты это прочитаешь и мечтаю что решишь перевести это, потому что искренне желаю тебе успеха в твоём нелёгком, но нужном и полезном деле =)

[@pallavisutar881]

Can u make a video on polyphasic sleep plz😀

[@MN-nj5xb]

Believe it or not I only opened KZbin today to know if you uploaded or not.

[@tnevitt]

Why was "v" chosen instead of any other letter? Was it arbitrary? If so, that helps. If it was for a reason, then I have no idea why.

[@davekorytak9707]

I think this technique is really good but it is very time-consuming. For example if somebody asks you "what is your mom's number"? You have to visualize the story, then the words, then what the letters means and then you will sloooooowly say the number by chunks. It's not very effective in normal life I think. If you have a lot of time then it's really good, but for example when taking an exam, you don't have time to think about stories, letters etc.

[@UnderscoreZeroLP]

Jamthom8 I think you'll find that's called having memorised something by rote...

[@usernamemykel]

At timemark 5:45, you put down, representing the number 2, "Kn". What was THAT all about?

[@thesixthoak]

That seems pretty complex for me. Personally my memory is kinda odd like I have a 25 digit randomly generated password for my laptop and another one for my phone as well as other stuff. Just always been really good at remembering numbers and other stuff when I try. My friends hate my passwords though because if they need to get on my phone it’s very hard. Love your videos though! A memory palace would be really interesting if you could go really in depth.

[@hana-ov1ju]

Tbh since u already have great memory, this would take it even further. Or instead u could try learning the trick where u work out what day of the week any date was on by memorising the month codes etc.

[@jazzsblog4643]

can u make a video that how to memorize *formulas...*

[@erinhorstmann771]

You do a video on how to find and do reliable research.

[@Elibennet05]

video of memory palace pls

[@geekpeak5052]

You should totaly do a house tour someday soon

[@shubhapeepra9229]

👍

[@genesisp3884]

This looks like a cool way to write some secret code. Maybe hide your password in a random story.

[@christophersanders7483]

Very interesting video but who is memorizing numbers today? Phonenumbers are in the smartphone and exchanged vs calling the other person. Important is to memorize concepts e.g. for school or job

[@jayrogue3703]

Any ways to memorize a passage that can't be understood ?

[@allegato1047]

Maybe assign the sounds from the passage to numbers and translate those numbers into major system?

[@wg3771]

I'm horrible memorizing, but I need do a presentation this week. I need to memorize my speech and conpsets.

[@netherworldforest8870]

For those who think this is to cumbersome or two much work. What is the other option. I used the idea from Ron White who is a Memory expert . His idea is very similar to Thomas's but it was for remembering people names. I got extra credit in my math class for being the first person to remember everyone name in the class. It was about 40 students and only really talked to about 5 of them. Ron White idea was you take the person's name and then find something about how the person looks as your cue. Then you think of action with the cue. One girl had black hair and her name was Ashley. I thought of a volcano went off and her hair turned back from all the Ash. One guy name was parker. I knew he liked to play baseball. I used parker playing baseball in a park. Only took me two classes to remember everyone's name. You will also be able to remember things faster and be able to use this in the future from what Thomas is teching in this video. JUST FYI - I was put in Special Ed when i was in 2nd grade. Not because I was dumb, but because I had memory issues with my long and short term memory. Now I have a almost a photograph memory now with using the tickets I learned. Lot from Thomas F as well.

[@dickdestroye]

I actually managed to memorise up to 42 numbers of pi! hell yeah!

[@caddydz]

First test, let's memorize PI

[@Thomasfrank]

My first real test was a 112-digit number I created on random.org two days ago. Just tested it this morning, and I was able to remember the whole thing! I'm probably going to make a proof video - just not sure yet where I want to upload it.

[@caddydz]

On this channel of course, everything you do is high quality

[@Thomasfrank]

I think I might upload a public version that's sped up (it took about 5-6 minutes to recite the whole thing), and link to an unlisted real-time version for the skeptics.

[@donlon7757]

well I just remember it by creating a little song, worked for the first 100 digits of pie:D

[@papacitoloko1117]

I like pie 😀

[@SaraMakesArt]

This video actually isn't the first place I've heard about this technique.

[@cyberhero10]

Quick maths

[@marksilla8276]

I think I need a memory system for this memory system

[@ryankaufman3590]

There is one! 0 - Looks like a wheel, which screeches and sizzles like a race car 1 - T and D both have a long vertical stroke in which a one fits 2 - flip it on its side, and it’s shaped like an N 3 - flip it on its side, and its shaped like an M 4 - lay it down and the pointy end goes right up into the bottom of R 5 - put your hand out and thumb to the side. Makes an L. 5 fingers. 6 - cursive J sorta looks like a 6. IDK go with it. 7 - put it diagonally and it fits in a K 8 - cursive F looks like 8 9 - flipped b and mirrored p look like 9

[@cesaraguirre8622]

2^10 is 1024!! Always remember

[@danytoumajan5054]

Can u do a new whats in my backpack vid pls

[@legallyoverworked321]

Hmmm, amazon is selling the book.....?? Excellent book, but strange to give it away and have other people selling it?? Good vids, keep it up!

[@Thomasfrank]

I self-published it to Amazon because people were requesting a print version, and then I decided to offer a Kindle version for people who discovered it through Amazon and didn't know about the free edition. You can't make a book permanently free on Amazon so I just made it 99 cents. There will be an audiobook version this year too :)

[@d.khisty880]

You should give a TED talk👍👍

[@IOwnThisHandle]

Devendra Khisty you don’t understand who goes on TED.

[@josephinelee9270]

well, why not?

[@IOwnThisHandle]

Anyone cannot just go on TED. That just isn't how it works.

[@josephinelee9270]

I have watched a ton of TED talks and they get people from a myriad of different places/walks of life. I really wouldn't be surprised if he got asked to do one.

[@feihyme7898]

Could you please make a video for people who might have ADHD?

[@wg3771]

Feihyme yes please!

[@najiiklove]

Check out how to adhd. Really great channel. Has helped me a lot.

[@camokazi1313]

Najik Nasimi I don't know you... but THANK YOU SO FREAKIN' MUCH! 😄

[@dga9713]

Oh my gosh, I've always thought LOCI is pronounced as LOW-SAI, not LOW-KEE. Nonetheless, great content as always!

[@lubieplackixd9223]

I've heard that background music before

[@koxukoshu]

iirc it's titled Tarantulas. It's used in a lot of youtube videos

[@ayushc4561]

@Thomas Frank, you lied to us... now you’ve got to find the rock’s number for us

[@Thomasfrank]

I'll get right on that