How do you quickly remember a bunch of random numbers?
When you’re in a pinch, getting it right can be critical. Sometimes you don’t have a pen and paper, or you can’t talk to Siri to write it down for you.
I also find it a fun mental exercise. Try it out, and you may realize how much you rely on digital tech.
When numbers are suddenly important:
- Phone numbers
- The section of the parking lot you left your car at
- The mile marker for your exit, especially if your phone is about to die
Strategy and personalization
My suggestion is to visualize the numbers using something personal or distinct.
- I’m a nerd of military aviation1, which makes up the majority of my number mnemonics.
- However, you can just as easily sprinkle in your mom’s birthday.2
Chunking: For practical reasons, try to “chunk” the numbers into 2 digits at a time.
- Instead of 146651, look at it as 14…66… 51
- Per my examples below, I could therefore memorize it as:
- F-14 Tomcat
- Order 66 (Star Wars, Emperor Palpatine)
- P-51 Mustang
Here’s a funny visual:
A tomcat (male cat), trying to chase Palpatine, who’s driving a Mustang convertible.
It’s hard to forget, and easy to decode (14… 66… 51), as long as you keep the order correct.
D&&’s list
(Rough examples):
- 0: Zero (aka A6M)
- 1: Yak-1; B-1 Lancer
- 2: Il-2 Sturmovik
- 3: Yak-3
- 4: F-4 Phantom II; Tu-4
- 5: F-5 Tiger II; La-5
- 6:
- 7: La-7
- 8: F-8 Crusader
- 9: MiG-9
- 10: A-10 Warthog
- 11: F-11 (F11F) Tiger
- 12:
- 13:
- 14: F-14 Tomcat
- 15: F-15 Eagle; MiG-15
- 16: F-16 Viper
- 17: MiG-17; B-17
- 18: F/A-18 Hornet
- 19: MiG-19
- 20: F-20 Tigershark
- 21: MiG-21
- 22: F-22 Raptor
- 23:
- 24: B-24 Liberator
- 25: B-25 Mitchell
- 26: P-26 Peashooter
- 27:
- 28: Il-28
- 29: B-29 Superfortress
- 30: Yak-30
- 31: MiG-31
- 32:
- 33:
- 34: T-34 (tank)
- 35: F-35 Lightning II
- 36: P-36 Hawk
- 37:
- 38: P-38 Lightning; XA-38 Grizzly
- 39: P-39 Airacobra
- 40: P-40 Warhawk
- 41: America’s entry to WWII (’41) after Pearl Harbor
- 42: important in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
- 43:
- 44:
- 45: the end of WWII (’45); Ki-45
- 46:
- 47: P-47 Thunderbolt
- 48:
- 49:
- 50:
- 51: P-51 Mustang
- 52: B-52 Stratofortress
- 53:
- 54: AIM-54 Phoenix (missile)
- 55: XP-55 Ascender
- 56:
- 57: B-57 Canberra
- 58:
- 59: P-59 Airacomet
- 60:
- 61: P-61 Black Widow
- 62:
- 63: P-63 Kingcobra
- 64: Nintendo 64
- 65:
- 66: Order 66 (Star Wars)
- 67:
- 68:
- 69: Year of the Moon landing (’69); internet memes
- 70:
- 71: SR-71 Blackbird
- 72:
- 73:
- 74:
- 75:
- 76:
- 77: The year Star Wars came out (’77)
- 78:
- 79:
- 80: P-80 Shooting Star
- 81:
- 82: F-82 Twin Mustang
- 83:
- 84: F-84 Thunderjet
- 85:
- 86: F-86 Sabre
- 87: Ju-87 Stuka
- 88:
- 89: F-89 Scorpion, or the fall of the Berlin Wall (’89)
- 90:
- 91: Fall of the USSR (’91)
- 92:
- 93:
- 94:
- 95:
- 96:
- 97:
- 98:
- 99:
- 100: F-100 Super Sabre
- 101: F-101 Voodoo
- 102:
- 103:
- 104: F-104 Starfighter
- 105: F-105 Thunderchief
- 106: F-106 Delta Dart
- 107:
- 108:
- 109: Bf 109
- 110: Bf 110
- 111: F-111 Aardvark
Non-sequential:
- 117: F-117 Nighthawk
- 120: AIM-120 AMRAAM
- 141: Yak-141
- 153: I-153 Chaika
- 163: Me 163 Komet
- 190: Fw 190
- 262: Me 262 Schwalbe
Miscellaneous:
- 00 (specifically, double zeroes): James Bond or another “00” agent
Footnotes
- Largely via War Thunder and browsing Wikipedia. I find that American planes tend to be easier for me to remember, especially since the nickname is in English. Occasionally, a distinct Soviet/Russian design works too. ↩︎
- “Yo mamma’s so old, programmers need to store her birth year as a long int to avoid an underflow.”
(That was pretty cheesy. I’m gonna give myself 2 out of 5 stars, which is still probably too generous.) ↩︎