ablomov wrote:
Average people would say I have a good memory for technical stuff, yet to memorise pi to 20 dp took me maybe ten five minute sessions spreaed over three days. I am just slightly ablove average academically and at age fifty have read or dipped into a lot of subjects, which I enjoy doing. I get great joy from being able to recall a string of twenty figures, tho from what i am reading on the other comments here I am staggeringly impressed. Fascinating topic.
Incidentally, my short term 'ephemeral' memory can be abysmal.
Never birtrhdays apart from my own.
Well, with ME, for the most part.... What REALLY makes me remember..... Is if I can perceive the process/pattern, experienced it, or link it to an existing memory. If I can do that, BANG, it sticks in an INSTANT! If I can't, it takes longer.
About the technical stuff.... I took a drivers ed course, and the "instructor" once asked a question. There were maybe 15 people in the class. I was the ONLY one to get it right! HOW?!?!?!? He never taught the answer, or covered the subject, and I took an educated guess based on what I knew about how cars worked, and the way materials conduct heat.
I could tell you LOTS of similar stories.
So sometimes you don't even really have to remember the answer. Sometimes it is BETTER to simply remember the reason! After all, if PI were 3.33333333333, NOBODY with half a brain would try to remember it past 2 digits. They would just remember it as 3.3 with the last digit repeating to infinity.
02 Aug 2008, 3:34 am
