Trainer for decoding numbers
The Major System is a mnemonic device for converting numbers into memorable words. This trainer is designed to help you improve your speed and accuracy at decoding words into their numeric equivalents using the system.
I talk about it a lot in my book Advanced Memory Palaces. I (and Darren Brown - I originally found it in Brown’s book Trick of the Mind) use the following lookup table:
Letter | Number | Explanation |
---|---|---|
s/z | 0 | ‘z’ for zero and ‘s’ looks like ‘z’ |
l | 1 | ‘l’ has one line |
n | 2 | ‘n’ has two lines |
m | 3 | ‘m’ has three lines |
r | 4 | a capital R looks a bit like a backwards 4 |
v/f | 5 | ‘V’ is the Roman numeral for 5; five starts with ‘f’ |
b/p | 6 | b is sort of the same shape as 6, and p is its reflection |
t | 7 | t sort of looks like a seven |
ch/gh | 8 | All the good letters were taken |
d/g | 9 | g is sort of the same shape as 9 and d is its reflection |
It’s very useful but can take a while to get the hang of. I built the following little bit of javascript to help me get back into practice for my new book and I’m making it public so I can link people to it when they email.
The simple JavaScript below gives you random words: if you decode them into numbers correctly then you get a point, if you don’t, then you don’t get a point. It times you for two minutes.
Click “Start” to begin a two-minute timed session. You’ll be shown two random words — your task is to enter the number they represent according to the Major System. For example, the pair rat chef would decode to 4785
. When you press Enter, you’ll find out if you are right.
Your score updates with each correct answer. Hit "Reset" to try again and improve your performance!