Lesson 14

How to Remember Numbers

The faculty of Number that is the faculty of knowing,
recognizing and remembering figures in the abstract
and in their relation to each other, differs very materially
among different individuals. To some, figures and numbers are
apprehended and remembered with ease, while to others they
possess no interest, attraction or affinity, and consequently
are not apt to be remembered. It is generally admitted by the
best authorities that the memorizing of dates, figures, numbers,
etc., is the most difficult of any of the phases of memory. But
all agree that the faculty may be developed by practice and
interest. There have been instances of persons having this
faculty of the mind developed to a degree almost incredible;
and other instances of persons having started with an aversion
to figures and then developing an interest which resulted in
their acquiring a remarkable degree of proficiency along these
lines.
Many of the celebrated mathematicians and astronomers
developed wonderful memories for figures. Herschel is said
to have been able to remember all the details of intricate
calculations in his astronomical computations, even to the
figures of the fractions. It is said that he was able to perform
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the most intricate calculations mentally, without the use of
pen or pencil, and then dictated to his assistant the entire
details of the process, including the final results. Tycho Brahe,
the astronomer, also possessed a similar memory. It is said that
he rebelled at being compelled to refer to the printed tables
of square roots and cube roots, and set to work to memorize
the entire set of tables, which almost incredible task he
accomplished in a half day this required the memorizing of
over 75,000 figures, and their relations to each other. Euler the
mathematician became blind in his old age, and being unable
to refer to his tables, memorized them. It is said that he was
able to repeat from recollection the first six powers of all the
numbers from one to one hundred.
Wallis the mathematician was a prodigy in this respect. He
is reported to have been able to mentally extract the square
root of a number to forty decimal places, and on one occasion
mentally extracted the cube root of a number consisting
of thirty figures. Dase is said to have mentally multiplied
two numbers of one hundred figures each. A youth named
Mangiamele was able to perform the most remarkable feats in
mental arithmetic. The reports show that upon a celebrated
test before members of the French Academy of Sciences he
was able to extract the cube root of 3,796,416 in thirty seconds;
and the tenth root of 282,475,289 in three minutes. He also
immediately solved the following question put to him by Arago:
What number has the following proportion: That if five times
the number be subtracted from the cube plus five times the
square of the number, and nine times the square of the number
be subtracted from that result, the remainder will be 0? The
answer, 5 was given immediately, without putting down a
figure on paper or board. It is related that a cashier of a Chicago
bank was able to mentally restore the 143 accounts of the bank,
which had been destroyed in the great fire in that city, and his
account which was accepted by the bank and the depositors,
was found to agree perfectly with the other memoranda in the

How to Remember Numbers

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case, the work performed by him being solely the work of his
memory.
Bidder was able to tell instantly the number of farthings in the
sum of 868,42s,12ld. Buxton mentally calculated the number
of cubical eighths of an inch there were in a quadrangular mass
23,145,789 yards long, 2,642,732 yards wide and 54,965 yards in
thickness. He also figured out mentally, the dimensions of an
irregular estate of about a thousand acres, giving the contents
in acres and perches, then reducing them to square inches, and
then reducing them to square hairbreadths, estimating 2,304
to the square inch, 48 to each side. The mathematical prodigy,
Zerah Colburn, was perhaps the most remarkable of any of
these remarkable people. When a mere child, he began to
develop, the most amazing qualities of mind regarding figures.
He was able to instantly make the mental calculation of the
exact number of seconds or minutes there was in a given time.
On one occasion he calculated the number of minutes and
seconds contained in forty-eight years, the answer: 25,228,800
minutes, and 1,513,728,000 seconds, being given almost
instantaneously. He could instantly multiply any number of
one to three figures, by another number consisting of the same
number of figures; the factors of any number consisting of six
or seven figures; the square, and cube roots, and the prime
numbers of any numbers given him. He mentally raised the
number 8, progressively, to its sixteenth power, the result being
281,474,976,710,656; and gave the square root of 106,929, which
was 5. He mentally extracted the cube root of 268,336,125; and
the squares of 244,999,755 and 1,224,998,755. In five seconds
he calculated the cube root of 413,993,348,677. He found the
factors of 4,294,967,297, which had previously been considered
to be a prime number. He mentally calculated the square of
999,999, which is 999,998,000,001 and then multiplied that
number by 49, and the product by the same number, and the
whole by 25 the latter as extra measure.
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The great difficulty in remembering numbers, to the majority
of persons, is the fact that numbers do not mean anything
to them that is, that numbers are thought of only in their
abstract phase and nature, and are consequently far more
difficult to remember than are impressions received from
the senses of sight or sound. The remedy, however, becomes
apparent when we recognize the source of the difficulty. The
remedy is: Make the number the subject of sound and sight
impressions. Attach the abstract idea of the numbers to the
sense of impressions of sight or sound, or both, according to
which are the best developed in your particular case. It may be
difficult for you to remember 1848 as an abstract thing, but
comparatively easy for you to remember the sound of eighteen
forty-eight, or the shape and appearance of 1848. If you will
repeat a number to yourself, so that you grasp the sound
impression of it, or else visualize it so that you can remember
having seen it then you will be far more apt to remember it
than if you merely think of it without reference to sound or
form. You may forget that the number of a certain store or
house is 3948, but you may easily remember the sound of the
spoken words thirty-nine forty-eight, or the form of 3948 as
it appeared to your sight on the door of the place. In the latter

case, you associate the number with the door and when you
visualize the door you visualize the number.
Kay, speaking of visualization, or the reproduction of mental
images of things to be remembered, says: Those who have been
distinguished for their power to carry out long and intricate
processes of mental calculation owe it to the same cause.
Taine says: Children accustomed to calculate in their heads
write mentally with chalk on an imaginary board the figures in
question, then all their partial operations, then the final sum,
so that they see internally the different lines of white figures
with which they are concerned. Young Colburn, who had never
been at school and did not know how to read or write, said that,
when making his calculations he saw them clearly before him.
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Another said that he saw the numbers he was working with as
if they had been written on a slate.
Bidder said: If I perform a
sum mentally, it always proceeds in a visible form in my mind;
indeed, I can conceive of no other way possible of doing mental
arithmetic.
We have known office boys who could never remember the
number of an address until it were distinctly repeated to them
several times then they memorized the sound and never
forget it. Others forget the sounds, or failed to register them in
the mind, but after once seeing the number on the door of an
office or store, could repeat it at a moments notice, saying that
they mentally could see the figures on the door. You will find
by a little questioning that the majority of people remember
figures or numbers in this way, and that very few can remember
them as abstract things. For that matter it is difficult for the
majority of persons to even think of a number, abstractly. Try
it yourself, and ascertain whether you do not remember the
number as either a sound of words, or else as the mental image
or visualization of the form of the figures. And, by the way,
which ever it happens to be, sight or sound, that particular kind
of remembrance is your best way of remembering numbers,
and consequently gives you the lines upon which you should
proceed to develop this phase of memory.
The law of Association may be used advantageously in
memorizing numbers; for instance we know of a person who
remembered the number 186,000 (the number of miles per
second traveled by light-waves in the ether) by associating it
with the number of his father s former place of business, 186.
Another remembered his telephone number 1876 by recalling
the date of the Declaration of Independence. Another, the
number of States in the Union, by associating it with the last
two figures of the number of his place of business. But by far
the better way to memorize dates, special numbers connected
with events, etc., is to visualize the picture of the event with
the picture of the date or number, thus combining the two
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things into a mental picture, the association of which will be
preserved when the picture is recalled. Verse of doggerel, such
as In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed
the ocean blue; or In eighteen hundred and sixty-one, our
country s Civil war begun, etc., have their places and uses. But
it is far better to cultivate the sight or sound of a number,
than to depend upon cumbersome associative methods based
on artificial links and pegs.

Finally, as we have said in the preceding chapters, before

one can develop a good memory of a subject, he must first
cultivate an interest in that subject. Therefore, if you will keep
your interest in figures alive by working out a few problems
in mathematics, once in a while, you will find that figures
will begin to have a new interest for you. A little elementary
arithmetic, used with interest, will do more to start you on
the road to How to Remember Numbers than a dozen text
books on the subject. In memory, the three rules are: Interest,
Attention and Exercise and the last is the most important,
for without it the others fail. You will be surprised to see how
many interesting things there are in figures, as you proceed. The
task of going over the elementary arithmetic will not be nearly
so dry as when you were a child. You will uncover all sorts of
queer things in relation to numbers. Just as a sample let us
call your attention to a few:
Take the figure 1 and place behind it a number of naughts,
thus: 1,000,000,000,000, as many naughts or ciphers as
you wish. Then divide the number by the figure 7. You will
find that the result is always this 142,857 then another 142,857,
and so on to infinity, if you wish to carry the calculation that
far. These six figures will be repeated over and over again. Then
multiply this 142,857 by the figure 7, and your product will
be all nines. Then take any number, and set it down, placing
beneath it a reversal of itself and subtract the latter from the
former, thus:
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89
117,761,909
90,916,771
26,845,138
and you will find that the result will always reduce to nine, and
is always a multiple of 9. Take any number composed of two or
more figures, and subtract from it the added sum of its separate
figures, and the result is always a multiple of 9, thus:
184
1+8+4= 13
171+9=19
We mention these familiar examples merely to remind you
that there is much more of interest in mere figures than many
would suppose. If you can arouse your interest in them, then
you will be well started on the road to the memorizing of
numbers. Let figures and numbers mean something to you,
and the rest will be merely a matter of detail.
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