Another way of looking at numbers is to group them. When I ask older service men to give me their serial numbers it comes out frequently as a rhythm. They have been given eight numbers in one uninterrupted or ungrouped block. They had to figure out their own system for it. Today when the army serial number is the same as the social security number it comes out three digits, two digits, and two pairs of two digits because it has been set up in those groups. The telephone company calls it putting a “dent” in a group of numbers. That’s one reason for separating the first three digits from the last four, it’s easier to remember.

D. SET A PRICE
Still another method is to make a price out of the number. In many areas, you know the first three digits of a telephone number but have trouble wit h the last four. Pretend it’s a price. For instance, if the doctor’s number is 3915, pretend he charged you $39.15 for a house call. Here is a number for Nurit’s Beauty Parlor — 6551. If she charged you $65.51 for a haircut, would you forget it? Doing this adds meaning to the numbers.

If you had a friend whose telephone number ends in 1492 there’s a very good chance that you would remember it by associating it with Columbus, for “in fourteen hundred ninetytwo Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” Your friend has nothing to do with Columbus, but 1492 now has meaning for you so you chain your friend’s number data to the prior meaning.

Taken From: Mega Memory Workbook