Pegs from rhymes and shapes stop at 10. The Major System goes much further. It turns digits into consonant sounds, and sounds can be joined with vowels into words: any number can become a word or a picture.
Its roots go back to the 1600s; the French teacher Aimé Paris gave it much of its modern form in 1825, and it was spread in English in the 1800s. Many memory athletes build their number systems on it today.
| Digit | Sounds | A hook to learn it |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | s, z | z is for zero |
| 1 | t, d | t has one downstroke |
| 2 | n | n has two downstrokes |
| 3 | m | m has three downstrokes |
| 4 | r | r is the last sound of four |
| 5 | l | L is 50 in Roman numerals |
| 6 | j, sh, ch, soft g | a J turned around looks like 6 |
| 7 | k, hard g, hard c | a K is two 7s back to back |
| 8 | f, v | a cursive f has two loops, like 8 |
| 9 | p, b | p is a mirror image of 9 |
Key idea
Each digit is a sound. Vowel sounds (a, e, i, o, u) and the sounds of w, h and y count as nothing, so you can use them freely to make words.
Worked example: Worked example
What number does "mat" make?
- m = 3.
- a is a vowel: nothing.
- t = 1.
Answer: 31.
Worked example: The other way
Turn 92 into sounds and then a word.
- 9 = p or b.
- 2 = n.
- Add vowels: b + o + n + e makes "bone."
Answer: Bone (or pin, pan, bun).
Common mistake
Thinking each letter is a digit. In "hat" the h is free, so hat is 1, not two digits.