Remembering numbers Was: Thread # 081130-1855Z

Skitt wrote on Tue, 2 Dec 2008 10:52:59 -0800:

Chuck Riggs wrote:
"Richard Yates" wrote:
Skitt wrote:
Bob Cunningham wrote:

If you can remember that you were discussing terrorism or asparagus yesterday under a "subject line" reading "shall or will?", why couldn't you remember that you were
discussing it under a "subject line" reading "081130"?

Duh! Long numbers are harder to remember then a few words.

Right. And even when they are not longer, numbers do not
have the nexus of meanings that a few word phrase does that makes it easier to remember. There is overwhelming evidenc
in the psychological literature that meaningful chunks are
more easily remembered than nonsense strings.
No one is advocating numerical thread titles.

For limited values of "no one", obviously.

In another context, that of remembering passwords, nonsense or numerical 10-14 character strings were discussed. I have memorized the 14-digit numerical password for my public library but it was a chore. It seems that best way to get people to use and remember long passwords is to make them pronounceable non-words. Several programs exist to generate them.
--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Remembering numbers Was: Thread # 081130-1855Z
    ... in the psychological literature that meaningful chunks are ... more easily remembered than nonsense strings. ... passwords is to make them pronounceable non-words. ... the first letter of each word. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: How to remove a single line from a flat file
    ... There are several states that critical files (like passwords or other ... creates a temporary file then does a move of the temporary file to the ... Application 1 opens a file and starts reading through, ... Application 1 continues reading ...
    (comp.lang.tcl)
  • Re: Thread # 081130-1855Z
    ... line" reading "081130"? ... Duh! ... nexus of meanings that a few word phrase does that makes it easier ... literature that meaningful chunks are more easily remembered than ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Thread # 081130-1855Z
    ... line" reading "081130"? ... Duh! ... nexus of meanings that a few word phrase does that makes it easier ... literature that meaningful chunks are more easily remembered than ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Thread # 081130-1855Z
    ... line" reading "081130"? ... Duh! ... nexus of meanings that a few word phrase does that makes it easier ... literature that meaningful chunks are more easily remembered than ...
    (alt.usage.english)