Death of Osama Bin Laden

How can you memorize the date of Osama Bin Laden? Easy, let's say that he is insulted. Simply use the mnemonic major system and you find back the date!

Insulted

Syllable per syllable:

• In -> 2
• sul -> 05
• ted -> 11

To we obtain 2 May 2011. You won't forget this date anymore with this mnemonic.

Mnemonic for the lunar distance

The lunar distance is the distance between the earth and the moon. On average this is 384.400 kilometers. How can we easily remember this number. Well, here is a mnemonic.

We're talking about a distance in astronomy, so let's associate this distance with the Theory of relativity. The most famous equation in special relativity is E = mc², let's remember the Square of this formula. Now let's perform some mnemonic magic.

1. Perform the mnemonic count system on the Theory of relativity: count the letters in each word and keep the last digit. Theory: 6; of: 2; relativity: (1)0 --> 620
2. 620² = 384.400

It's easy, isn't it? You'll never forget that number again.

(Count("Theory of relativity"))^2 = 384.400

Mnemonic to remember the Big Bang

The Big Bang is without any doubt the most important event that took place in this universe, but when did this took place? Most recent estimates say that this happened 13.7 billion years ago. Scientists believe that there were no atoms yet in the big bang, it was too hot for the protons and electrons to bind together.

How can we remember that the Big Bang occurred 13.7 years ago? Let's make use of the mnemonic major system. We now associate the big bang with the following word:

Atomic

According to the mnemonic major system, a 't' represents 1, an 'm' 3 and a 'c' 7. Now you simply need to make an association between the Big Bang and the word Atomic and ... this will not be difficult.

And voila, thanks to this mnemonic you will never forget this ever again.

The Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo is one of the most important events in the 19th century. Napoleon was defeated. The battle took place in 1815. How to memorize this? Well, there is an easy mnemonic. Imagine that you tell this story to your children (of nephews, nieces)  before they go to bed. Tell it in a very childish manner. Then memorize the following sentence:

A Children's Story

We can now use  the mnemonic count system: count the number of letters in each word. And voila, you will not forget this year any longer.

Easy mnemonic to memorize first 8 decimals of Euler's number

Here is a great way to easily memorize the first 7 decimals of e, the famous mathematical constant. For the non-mathematicians, the value of e is about 2.718281828.

The mnemonic makes use of  the mnemonic count system: you can the number of letters in every word of a sentence to make a mapping between a long series of digits and an (far easier to remember) sentence.

Now let's look at this key phrase:

Charles I Insulted by Cromwell's Soldiers

This is a well-known oil painting by Hippolyte Delaroche where the victorious soldiers of Oliver Cromwell were insulting Charles I of England after the Second English Civil War. Charles is in the middle of the painting below.

Count the letters in every word and you will find the first 7 decimals of e:

• Charles --> 7
• I --> 1
• Insulted --> 8
• by --> 2
• Cromwell --> 8
• s --> 1
• Soldiers --> 8

You SHOULD always remember the European emergency number

at least, when you live in Europe...

In the United States of America everybody knows the emergency number. It's 911. Dialing this number can save your life. Not only people in the US know this number, but anyone who watches American television shows.
This number is so important, that it needs to be the same in Europe, right? No, not at all. Most of the countries in Europe have an emergency number that is very specific for the country. But there also exists one single emergency number for whole Europe, at least most of the European countries. Still, it is not well-known.

The number we are referring to is 112.

How to memorize?

We will use the mnemonic major system. The relevant letters and digits of the major system:

• 0 - Z, S (first letter of Zero, sounds like S)
• 1 - T, D (these letters have 1 downstroke)
• 2 - N (two downstrokes)

Now the fun can begin! We make words using these consonants, mapping to the phone number 112.

• Titan
• Add-on
• Shut down

My favorite is the word SITUATION. Now use the following mnemonic association to remember 112

When you are in a bad situation, then call 112.

Indeed, 112 is the major system mapping of the word "situation".

Fresh in the air

Hello everybody,

My name is Bram and I'm a big fan of number mnemonics. In my professional life I'm a mathematician. I'm so excited about mnemonic number systems that I would like to share my passion with you. I will regularly try to post number mnemonic examples.

I hope you will enjoy this blog about number mnemonics examples. Feel free to contact me with feedback.

Kind regards,

Bram