How to Memorize Numbers
Memorizing numbers, whether it’s phone numbers, dates, or any numerical data, is a skill that can significantly enhance your cognitive abilities, improve your professional performance, and boost your daily life efficiency.
Similar to the importance of remembering names, memorizing numbers shows attention to detail and can help in building connections and trust in both personal and professional settings.
Why It’s Important to Memorize Numbers
In a world dominated by digital devices, the ability to memorize numbers might seem obsolete. However, the mental exercise involved in memorizing numbers can improve cognitive functions, enhance memory, and may even slow down cognitive aging.
From remembering important dates to quickly recalling numerical data in meetings or presentations, the benefits are vast and varied.
The Five-Step Process to Memorizing Numbers
Numbers are hard to recall because they have no inherent underlying symbolic meaning like words do, but here are some simple tips that might help.
Adapting this five-step process from memorizing names, we can apply similar techniques to numbers:
- Pay attention: Most memory problems are related to lack of attention, so the information never gets embedded for later recall. Tell yourself you are going to make a special attempt to remember this number.
- Repeat the number: Just as repeating a name helps in memorizing it, repeating a number aloud can aid in embedding it into your memory. If it seems inappropriate to say the number aloud, repeat it to yourself.
- Create associations: Associate the number with something familiar. For instance, if you’re trying to remember the number 1969, you might think of a significant event that happened that year. Or associate it with a number you already remember. Eg: 02140429 is a combination of my brother’s and my sister’s birthday. The number 1226 is the day after Christmas, etc. 740 is July 4 (+0). 18121983 is the War of 1812 and the year of my son’s birth.
- Use context: Try to use the number in a sentence or a scenario. This contextual embedding can help in memorization. Eg: That’s a week before Christmas. Or the day before Halloween. If I wait until Halloween to call Mom on her birthday, it will be too late.
- Write it down: Remember Confucius’ advice: The weakest ink is stronger than the best memory. Seeing the number in your handwriting or a digital note can also help you remember it. Send yourself texts, voice mail messages or emails so you have the number for future reference. Some people also write quick notes on their hand when other tools are not available.
Memory Tricks for Numbers
Several memory enhancement techniques can be particularly effective for numbers:
- Chunking: Breaking down long strings of numbers into smaller, manageable chunks can also aid in memorization. This is particularly useful for phone numbers or credit card numbers. Eg: 6593 W. Main Street might be easier to remember as 65 93, two numbers instead of four. The number 351379 is 35, 13 and 79, three numbers instead of six.
- Convert. Make the number a time, eg: 12:15 or a price, eg: $18.99
- Look for a pattern. Eg: the number 8374783 has 83 at both ends and 747 (a type of airplane) in between. 632: six divided by three is two. 7815: seven plus eight is fifteen.
- Code sentence. Make up a sentence in which the number of letters in each word represents a number. Eg: for the number 2544, the code sentence could be My (2 letters) money (5 letters) goes (4 letters) fast (4 letters). My money goes fast=2544.
- The Memory Palace: Also known as the method of loci, this ancient mnemonic technique involves visualizing a familiar place and associating each item you want to remember with a specific location within this place. Using this method for recalling numbers could mean visualizing a number in each place or loci in your house Eg; for the number 348, you might visualize 3 items on your front porch (your first loci), then 4 items at your next loci (say your kitchen sink), and then 8 items at your next loci (say your dining room table). Details on the Loci Method can be found in our memory strategy article.
- The Major System: This technique involves converting numbers into consonant sounds, then into words by adding vowels. These words can then form images in your mind, making the numbers easier to remember. This is a more complicated system that is often used in memory competitions but not described here.
Benefits of Memorizing Numbers
Memorizing numbers can enhance your mental agility, improve your attention to detail, and boost your memory.
It’s a valuable skill that can help in various scenarios, from performing mental math quickly to remembering important information without relying on digital devices.
Conclusion
Just like remembering names, memorizing numbers is a skill that can be developed and refined with practice and the right techniques.
By applying the five-step process and utilizing memory tricks, you can improve your ability to remember numbers, which is a valuable asset in both personal and professional realms.
Barbara Van Dyne, M.A., speech-language pathologist has worked for decades in a variety of rehabilitation settings, including inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, home health, private practice and skilled nursing facilities.
She holds a Master's Degree from The University of Kansas in Speech and Language Pathology.
She is the author of Memory Chit Chat, a clinical manual with exercises that leverage social themes for therapeutic purposes offers meaningful engagement, repetition, familiarity, personal relevance, and a connection to seasonal and cultural events
She has taught memory improvement classes and served on the advisory board of the Stroke Support Group of Northern California. Prior to her retirement she was certified by the American Speech and Hearing Association and licensed as a speech pathologist in the state of California.
