To read more about the history of the major system, see this historical perspective. In Hebrew, for example, the number 14 is written with the letters יד ( yad), which is also the word for “hand”. It’s hard to imagine that they didn’t have similar methods for remembering numbers, especially when paper was not available. In some languages, like Hebrew and ancient Greek, letters have been used to write numerals, so it seems likely that people would have been able to easily see words in them. The Katapayadi system from India is an ancient system for remembering numbers that has similarities with the Major System. Ben Pridmoreīen Pridmore added vowels back to the basic major system, along with some other changes, to create the Ben System. This part of the history requires more research. Wood does mentioned that he studied Gouraud’s memory methods, so it could have been that Wood forgot where the idea originated. In chapter 17 of his 1936 book, Mind and Memory Training, Ernest Wood claimed to have made some changes to von Feinaigle’s mnemonic system to produce the modern major system as we know it today, but it appears that Wood’s version of the system was published almost 100 years earlier by Gouraud. See also the memory wiki page for the major system, because it has additional information, including some notes about other early writers like Ernest E. I use a modified major system for consonants where 6 is “b” because they look similar. I think individual people also modify the system for their own use. EDIT: The version of the Major System that he popularized appears to be Francis Fauvel-Gourad’s Aimé Paris’ system. The Wikipedia article says that the major system in its current form was popularized by Harry Lorayne. He published the first version of used Aimé Paris’ version of the modern Major System in his 19th century book Phreno-Mnemotechny. I’ve edited this post (Jan 15, 2013) to add Francis Fauvel-Gourad. His book, The Anti-Absurd or Phrenotypic English Pronouncing and Orthographical Dictionary, contains the modern version of the major system. Some people believe that Major Beniowsky is the “Major” in the major system (but see the comments below for an alternate opinion). It seems that he was the person who first published it in the modern form, so it might even be accurate to call it the Paris System. I wanted to mention Aimé Paris who modified Gregor von Feinaigle’s system to create what we know as the modern major system. I’m editing this post again (January 22, 2014) with a few updates. I uploaded a PDF copy of his book here: The New Art of Memory. He assigns the following letters to digits: This is the first version that starts to look like the modern Major System. Download a PDF of his book here: Memoria Technica Gregor von Feinaigleįrom Wikipedia: ” In 1808 Gregor von Feinaigle introduced the improvement of representing the digits by consonant sounds…” I haven’t read the whole book, but it seems like he is just making nonsense words, not images. Some examples of usage that he gives are: Here is a screenshot of one illustration of his early Major Systemįrom Wikipedia: ” In 1730, Richard Grey set forth a complicated system that used both consonants and vowels to represent the digits.”Īt this point in history, the system still uses both consonants and vowels, but interestingly it alternates consonants and vowels almost like the Ben System: His system, published in 1648, is online here, but it’s in German. Stanislaus Mink von Wennssheinįrom Wikipedia: ” The major system was further developed by Stanislaus Mink von Wennsshein 300 years ago.” The assumption here was that ‘cadator’ was easier to remember than 314159. So to remember a number such as 314159 one produced a word such as ‘cadator’ which then translated back into 314159. introduced a code by which numbers were translated into words to aid memorising them. Update: There is a brief description here: I couldn’t find the details of the system, but apparently he used both consonants and vowels in Latin and French. Pierre Hérigoneįrom Wikipedia: ” Pierre Hérigone (1580–1643) was a French mathematician and astronomer and devised the earliest version of the major system.” In this article, we’ll look at how the major system has evolved over time. The basic idea may even be thousands of years old. The major system is a technique for memorizing numbers that is at least several hundred years old.
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