secrets-of-mental-math-malestrom

A Memorable Chapter: Memorizing Numbers 157
Mudd: 31
multiplication: 35,195,762
Cleveland: 758,521
Ohio:
(nothing)
Although a number can usually be converted into many
words, a word can be translated only into a single number. This
is an important property for our applications as it enables us to
recall specific numbers.
Using this system you can translate any number or series of
numbers (e.g., phone numbers, Social Security numbers, driver’s
license numbers, the digits of π) into a word or a sentence. Here’s
how the code works to translate the first twenty-four digits of π:
3 1415 926 5 3 58 97 9 3 2 384 6264
“My turtle Pancho will, my love, pick up my new mover, Ginger.”
Remember that, with this phonetic code, g is a hard sound, as
in grass, so a soft g (as in Ginger) sounds like j and is represented
by a 6. Also, the word will is, phonetically, just L, and is
represented by 5, since the consonant sound w can be used
freely. Since this sentence can only be translated back to the
twenty-four digits above, you have effectively memorized π to
twenty-four digits!
There’s no limit to the number of numbers this code will
allow you to memorize. For example, the following two sentences,
when added to “My turtle Pancho will, my love, pick up
my new mover, Ginger,” will allow you to memorize the first
sixty digits of π:
3 38 327 950 2 8841 971
“My movie monkey plays in a favorite bucket.”