Card Memorisation (using numbers) - Numberphile
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ย. 2024
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It might have been worthwhile pointing out that the Jane Street offer is only open to those that can be employed in the US without a visa.
I was very impressed and mentioned it to a friend who pointed me to the memory championship. The world record for memorising a complete deck (not only the colours) is 12.74 seconds. Amazing what the human mind can do!
Still an impressive feat of short term memory even with that method. I think I wouldn't be able to remember that many numbers without context, but if you encoded the 52 cards into 13 hexadecimal numbers, and assigned a meaningful adjective or noun to each of the sixteen numbers, you could probably turn the sequence into a short story in your head.
Check out Graham Siggins memorizing more than 52 rubix cubes and then solving them all blindfolded in a row.
It's very impressive.
At work I have to input some five digit numbers to a computer. When there's an issue with the machine, I have to check a different three digit number, re-enter the five digit number and then select the three digit number from a list.
Additionally there's another five digit number that I try to remember, so I don't have to check it again after I'm done with the first two numbers.
I often fail.
That's a lot of work, just use memory palace spatial encoding. Or you can use figurative codes nested into each other, none of that requires a story to be built.
I was thinking in using hex as well. You get more information encoded in fewer numbers and it's easier to convert between hex and binary.
@@Dogo.R Thats beyond normal skill, not everyone could ever remember that
This is a great way to remember an order. As a magician in my spare time who likes using playing cards, I like looking at different methods of memorising information from the deck, especially quickly. I've recently been working on a method of memorising a stack of cards using maths or memorising where a sequence of cards are in a shuffled deck using positions and groups.
Any kind of memory trick, especially short term memory, is always impressive to me, especially when you understand what kind of mental work goes into it.
More than anything, with any kind of memorisation trick, it's the practice that pays off when it works. It's when the work is hard but when it works, it's so satisfying.
Hey, I'm a mentalist. Using standard memory techniques, you can memorise a deck of cards very fast. World record is 13 seconds. Average person without much effort can do it within 5 minutes, or under two with some practice.
WOW! That's a LOT of mental gymnastics. I can do each individual part of it, and probably would just do 6 digit binary numbers, but remembering them while encoding would be beyond my abilities. I'm really impressed.
Not beyond your abilities. Just takes practice. You are only as talented as you allow yourself to be.
So cool! Math, especially arithmetic, is full of little ways to group, simplify, and relate that let you do otherwise impossible things without writing it down.
Really impressive! I love stuff like this because even when you learn the trick you still see the skill required to pull it off.
About 3 years ago, when I was still in Highschool, I got curious about a memory technique called the method of loci (or more commonly known as memory/mind places).
This involves assigning information, such as playing cards, to images. I would place these images in locations I knew (like my house) in a usually preset path. So each image would be imagined near or on an object in my house, like my bed.
I used a PAO system (this is mainly what mental athletes use, and yes, they are a real thing. They compete in memory competitions). That’s short for person, action, object. Each card would have a person assigned to it, and each person would have an action and an object.
When memorising cards, I would remember the assigned person, look at the next card, remember the assigned action, then look at the next card and then remember the assigned object. I would then combine them into a person doing an action with an object. This would then be imagined somewhere in the place I was imagining. This would continue until I got through the deck.
This may seem overly convoluted, but I got to a point where I could memorise a deck of cards in under 5 minutes. I actually first got into memorising Pi when I originally started this, so the cards have been more of a recent thing.
Memory palaces become a lot harder when trying to memorise random words or concepts though, because you can’t pre-assign images to these kinds of information. Or at least not entirely. I still use it to memorise stuff as I’m reading through textbooks, studying physics and maths, but mainly to keep track of everything I’ve just read so I can write notes after reading easier.
I would be extremely surprised if anyone read through all that, but there’s a comment.
i read all 😆
Me too!
Oh wow I also starting experimenting with that method about three years ago while still in High School! Although I haven't really touched the PAO system that much... I definitely should give that one a go ;)
I also started out memorizing digits of pi and I think I got to about 260 before getting a bit bored with it (PAO probably would've helped for that :v) but more recently I started using it for solving Rubik's cubes blindfolded :p
Honestly blind solving cubes is pretty fun, the basic method is pretty simple but requires 3 algorithms and a letter assigned to every sticker which does mean it takes a bit of time getting into it (could be easily done in a mostly free weekend), but otherwise memorizing and solving itself is pretty much just 20 letters which I memorize using letter pairs associated with specific words instead of PAO!
I read it all too.
I memorised Pi to 1.2k decimals, so my memory’s okay, yet I never could get mind palaces to work
When I was a teen, I always used number -> musical note to memorise eg. the first 200 digits (and the next digit, of course lol) of Pi and e, and then just play it as a tune in my head (and, unfortunately, sorta when I recite them lol).. I just now tried converting Pi to binary thanks to this video and using the same method except using my index or middle finger to represent 0 (index) and 1 (middle)... makes a pretty cool drum beat :) only time will tell if I'll actually remember it this way, those days seem so long ago haha.
Love the vids! Happy new year!
EDIT: Never played an instrument in my life or know how to read music, just happy coincidence I guess!
I solve the Rubik's Cube blindfolded. That is a similar process: encoding, memorize, decoding. You break the solving itself into element swaps (it's almost like solving a permutation with 2-swaps, there are some easy techniques to do that), and each element has an associated letter. So letter "A" means a specific location and the corresponding movement to do the swap, letter "B" means a different location and solving movement sequence, and so on. In the end, you'll end up to memorize 12+8 letters (edges+corners). But then you pair those letters, and each pair becomes a single word. For example, "AG-TP" becomes "agent tadpole" or something like that. You only have to memorize 10 words. During the solving, you really don't have to think: remember your word -> decode into letters -> do the corresponding movement to that letter. The beauty is that you don't have to visualize the cube itself or anything like that.
I grew up coding assembly, therefore base 16 & 2 are completely natural for me, I would definitely not convert this to base 10, just leave it in base 16.
Except 5 binary digits makes a base 32 number.
@@Zuldaar 6 digits you can just remember as a number from #$00 to #$3F
Or you just group in 4 or 8 bits instead of 6
Interesting and cool trick!
You could shorten the blocks from 5 to 4 (I exluded the sign bit ±) so you would have a max sum of 15 instead of 31.
Then you could convert it into hexadecimal, which would further reduce the amount of total digits (ofc A-F) to remember.
This channel is so satisfying and such an altruistic force in education.
Thank you guys.
Congratulations 4.2M subscribers here!
Asks to shuffle cards. Shuffles cards. Cuts video... lolol.
This is somewhat similar to how I remember my PIN number. That one is just several dozen base ten digits though. Still, breaking it into groups is surprisingly helpful. Consider, for a moment, how many 6-10 digit numbers you've had to memorize, then put them all in sequence right after each other. After putting them in order, I just had to call up each one in that order and I was fine. And once I've gotten a certain sequence down well enough I can add another number in somewhere with minimal difficulty. The real trick, of course, is that I use this number nearly every day and enter it by hand, encoding the number into my brain as both a series of numbers that I recite mentally as I enter my PIN and also as the series of keys on a numberpad I have to press to enter the number. If I have to just say the number out loud without having a keypad handy or pretending to enter it with my fingers it takes me like three times as long to get through the whole thing.
The best technique I read for remembering a bank card PIN is to group the digits in two groups of two, and then imagine two people of those ages in a relationship. You’ll then remember the two numbers based on whether the ages are appropriate… or grossly inappropriate 😅
@@martinbean The PIN I'm referring to is about 70 digits long at the moment...that technique would be worse than useless.
@@ThePCguy17 Well obviously…
I remember being able to do this as a kid but then Jeff realized I was looking at the reflection on the table....Dangit Jeff. I was about to impress your sister!
Way to cockblock Jeff
years ago i saw a cool video that talked about memorization tricks where you "encode" the information with objects (that number is this object..) that you arrange in your head in some space (like rooms in a house or drawers, or whatever) and that allows you to memorize the order of the whole deck (not just hte color, but the specific card). it was a pretty cool video, it talked about how that memory trick was already known to the ancient greeks.
we all know that pictures and places are easy to remember (we're visual animals after all xD), so that memorization trick takes advantage of that.
Daniel Tammet from the boy with the incredible mind saw numbers as images that he would "read" to decode.
It's from a book "moon walking with Einstein" it's called the memory palace !
IIRC some restaurants will train servers/waiters this technique where they associate an order with the layout of the restaurant. So if a table orders a double cheeseburger, small french fries, and a salad, they remember burgers are the north window of the restaurant, fries are the bar, and salads are the table by the door. Now they only have to remember: north window, bar, table by entrance. Other shorthand gets used for substitutions, toppings, and sizes.
I had to present a controversial idea to a senior executive at work and I didn't want to read anything or use notes (thinking I would appear more persuasive). I arranged my thoughts in an outline and then started at my front door and walked through my house, associating each point in the outline with a location or object in my house along a path.
The technique worked, and I made my pitch as professionally as I think I could have. But it was not accepted.
@@adrianqx "memory palace" that's it! ty :)
i haven't read that book (or heard of it) but i vaguely remember seeing a video abou it xD
Clever. A compression algorithm of sorts in your head.
One heck of a feat. I once met a bloke who could remember π to a lot of decimal places. He paused occasionally too and I think he used similar but not identical techniques.
Should I suggest an improvement to the method, I wouldn't use decimal but octal system. That makes it easier to decode the numbers you remembered as you can do it by digits. e.g. 24 decodes to 010100, 2 = 010, 4 = 100. It may also allow you to remember cards by groups of 7 rather than 6, making it one less group to remember per pack and still with just one two-digit number per group.
Before the reveal, I imagined she'd be memorizing the strings. It'd read like this: starting with black, 4-1-4-2-1-2-1-1-1-1-2-1-2-1-1-9-4-1-1-2-1-2-3-1-1-2. On average, much less efficient than the technique used. Maybe find a clever way to condense those 1's and 2's as letters.
Exactly this is much easier... You can simply encode 11 as 'a', 12 as 'b', 21 as 'c' and 22 as 'd' as these are the most common occurrences:
414ccabba94ac23a2
Now this string is really easy to remember
pure cinematography... card cam while main cam focuses on the cards
I memorize the order of a deck of cards using 2 key mnemonics: the major system and the mind palace. It was my first time using the mind palace, and I found it very successful for remembering order. Check these out for deck memorization. I think it's a popular technique.
Reminds me of blindfold solving of cubes! It's way easier to remember pairs of letters than just letters or just numbers.
Numberphile keeps presenting videos of amazing accomplishments. Some are established centuries ago, others are more fresh,.. I love it. Mathematics rock! (can i buy a T-shirt of that?)
this is pure editing to show someone wise
I figured from the start that it would be a matter of converting binary to memorize the colors, but I was really hoping you were then going to do the trick of memorizing the suits via base 4.
Great video! This reminds me of the mental algorithm for solving Rubik's Cube blindfolded/under the table. This would be great practice for that if this sort of memory techniques are new to someone
Personally, I would associate every 4 cards with a shape, R being up and B being down : RBBR -> U ; BRBB -> へ ; BRBR -> N ; etc. This way, I just have to memorize a sequence of 13 such patterns.
Morse code can be used too, btw.
why not 4-bit hex digits? i would think that would be more natural -- and consequently -- easier.
13 4-bit hex digits.
Easier to en-/decode but I think might be harder to remember? I guess depends on the person and practice but I think 8 2-digit numbers are probably easier for most people. You could do 2 digit hex numbers but not sure that would help since we're not used to hex numbers. Somebody else mentioned using 2-digit octal though which definitely seems superior.
When solving Rubik's cubes blindfolded, the solver needs to just remember, for each unique solve, 20 different letters. They do this by assigning groups of two letters to an image, for example, FS might be fish. Then, they create a story for these pairs of letters, for example, FS SW could be a fish swimming. It is also useful to think about these stories taking place somewhere you know about, because it makes it easier to remember the story.
20 letters is because there are 20 pieces in a 3x3 cube. People can also solve 4x4 and 5x5 cubes blindfolded, and more, using the same method, the number of letters increases, but also the algorithms for applying those letters to the cube and solving it, much like in this video you have an algorithm that is always the same (5 digit "signed" binary algorithm). Record holders include Stanley Chapel and Graham Siggins, If you seach on TH-cam you can see the limits of memorisation for a human using these types of techniques.
I don't really know how this works, but, based on your description, wouldn't "FS SW" be impossible? If each piece gets its own letter, you wouldn't have the same letter multiple times in the same string, right?
Encoding the base 10 number as a letter of the alphabet (adding 5 letters at the end, like Greek letters or whatever) might make it even easier, assuming you memorize letter positions in the alphabet.
Very common in IT as a way to pack binary flags into one base 10 number, then you can use bitwise operations to test if a flag is set or not. 8 bit number you can have 8 flags, 16 bit number is 16 flags, etc.
Wouldn't Base16 be easier? Converting hex to binary.
The only trick is remembering 13 digits.
Using numbers? On a numberphile video?!?! I refuse to believe it!!
Our micro p professor had a story where the class stood in line at the radio station to win an autio coacet. Each student would guess the number by half in binary incriminates until they one
Wow. I do this to from childhood in HEX. It's easy. 52 bits number is only 13 symbols wide and each symbol (0 to F) contains 4 bits. Cheapy to encode/decode
That's really clever.
Six. Very impressive. Four is easier and equally impressive. For instance If you want to tell a friend a long number groups of four is best.
This is really cool! It's a great party trick. I was able to get it on the second try!
I think I would try it with hex, much easier encoding and you can use occasional words that come up like Fox or Dog to form some visual patterns.
pretty impressive
2:45 I was guessing hexadecimal, but then the extra footage teaser played and I felt very unoriginal. Encoding nibbles just seems so natural to a programmer, but in the end it's just "what works for you" that matters.
This is basically how compression algorithm works
Outstanding! Well done.
I have a system where every card has a number. Then I just use the "major system" to convert these numbers into mental images, and arrange them in my memory palace. I can memorize 52 cards this way, not just colors.
Also called the "phonetic number system, phonetic mnemonic system, or Herigone's mnemonic system" -- Wikipedia
Sounds similar to what magician Derren Brown uses
A couple of years ago I memorized 5 decks of cards like this. I didn't use numbers, but had four categories (hearts: people (or groups thereof), diamonds: other creatures, spades: places, and clubs: objects). After remembering all card/"image" pairs properly, remembering a whole deck of cards by making a "story" wasn't too hard.
If I was a cynic, I'd point out the partially reflective table surface.
Even easier to remember would be to condense the entire deck into a single base 10 number. Though that would be quite a bit of calculation at 2^51.
That is so cool.
Why not ASCII?
That was astounding. Amazing job 👏
So cute to hear from lots. Usually cars. Sanam. Ray trace refl.
I wonder if reducing stuff down into base-32 (using letters) would be even easier to remember (but harder to encode). Maybe this would work if you need to memorise it for a couple of hours but are allowed longer to sit with the pile at the start? The pack in the video would be "44ikm0a3d30" I think (0=0, a=1, b=2, z=26, 1=27, 5=31). Something like that, anyway.
You should do a video with Derren Brown
Interesting, but what do you use these techniques for?
Eg Dr Kelly's book on The Memory Code demonstrated how small scale Social Order works via the application of Magical Thinking associations to align sequential behaviours with the environment.., which could be radically upgraded to fit natural flash recognition e-Pi-i sync-duration reiteration.., ie Educational requirements of the world, to clean up the current messes..?
how to remember a 52 bit number? turn into 6 bits, encode into ascii?
Me, who can't remember a five digit number I just read: of course
I'd like to see this done on a table that is not so reflective.....
Just use 8 binary digits and condense them into hexa (there is a quick way). Sounds easier than decimal. Or even better, use octa, groups of 6, each 3 are easily converted to octa.
Sure, make a reply video and show us how great you are at that.
@@nicksamek12 Have you just made an ad hominem? Me not being on youtube or my ability to make youtube videos has nothing to do with my point, which is remembering a double digit number that translates digit-digit is easier than double digit number that translates only as whole.
Toxicity on science channels is not welcomed.
@@WookENTP shut up nerrrrddd
@@topherthe11th23 Yours just seethes with ordinary snark. 😆
I assume most people are much worse at remembering hex numbers vs decimal numbers though. Octal is a nice idea though. With 6 cards each for 2 digits numbers it would be the same amount of numbers to remember but without the colors and easier to en-/decode. Could even still use colors to only need 7 numbers and 3 leftover cards.
How does this compare to simply counting the lengths of each colour streak and remembering this sequence of numbers?
I was wondering this. I'm not sure what the expected length of the sequence would be, but my guess is around 10-15 single-digit numbers, which a lot of people seem to struggle with. Then again, a lot of people struggle with on-the-fly base conversion.
That's how we tried it, back in the day. Could only get halfway.
@@hughcaldwell1034 I'm not sure either what length of this sequence you need to expect but if the steak lengths are Normal-distributed, that shouldn't vary too much from one case to the next.
However, the fact that you don't have a set length of bits to work with and after each new card have to stop and check whether this continues a streak or begins a new one probably makes this harder than having a set length each time and memorising each of those portions.
@@UncleKennysPlace Yeah, it might be more laborious to check for each new card whether it continues a streak or begins a new one and (at least in the latter case) also repeat the sequence you already have.
@@hughcaldwell1034 Shouldn’t it be 26..? The average colour streak will be of length 2, that's certain. It seems pretty intuitive that the number of streaks should then be of half the length of the pack of cards, but maybe not.
I have aphantasia, and trying to remember more than a couple bits of information while also trying to convert between bases is just not something my brain is capable of.
Even knowing the system, I would still struggle to remember all those cards. Well done!
That's great news.
For such cases, I usually just remember the first colour, and then the length of each run.
E.g. bbbrrbbrbb would be
b 3 2 2 1 2
Unless you get realy lucky, that's much more information to remember though. Like, in your example, you already got 6 values for just 10 cards. That doesn't really scale well for 52 cards.
@@1vader Sure. I didn't mean to imply that it was some genius system. It's just what I came up with without giving it very much thought.
That was my first approach as well
Thrilling!
I wonder. What actually are the odds that you get a B0 when dealing out 52 cards?
The same as any specific sequence… for example, 6 heads in a row is the same as HTHHTH … or any other specific sequence. So, 1/2^6 is approximately 1.6%
@@RichRauenzahn for one sequence of 6 cards yes. but if you deal out all 52 cards in groups of 6, you get 8 such chances (and 4 cards left over). And for each group of 6, how likely it is to get a B0 depends on what kind of cards are still in the deck, so the combinatorics are a little trickier I think, but I can't be bothered to figure it all out :D
@@leonhrad yes.. you’re right, I only meant for one 6 card deal. I think it is calculated as 1 minus the chance that all of the eight 6 card deals aren’t B0.
I watched a video years ago about how to remember the order of 52 cards. It was done by going on a journey.
Can’t do it these days sadly.
Yes, it's called a memory palace. I read a book about someone who went on a one year journey to compete in the world championships of memory. I used the technique described there and managed to do it. It took me around 3 days to get a working system though, but it is definitely possible to do. The hardest part was to come up with 52 unique persons, actions and attributes and remembering who belonged to which card.
Another way is to watch it from the reflection of the table
I was thinking the same thing.
seems like a missed opportunity for using baconian.
Lady's gonna memorise the phone book one day!
Hexadecimal would likely be similarly difficult but more efficient overall. EDIT: Just heard the last seconds of the video...
Nice
I wrote about this method in my book Slice of Pi. The book has the first 3141 digits of pi followed by my method for memorising them. But it covers how to memorise cards and binary numbers and the alphabet backwards. It also covers how I build memory palaces. The book is on Amazon.
Could it be easier to remember in base 8, 16, or 32? Certainly easier to decode.
Just what the previous commentor said... wouldn't it be easier to encode the binary into hex? It's so much easier to convert between binary and hex than binary and decimal?
You mean like a spell 😁
Easier, AND reducing what I consider here to be a nearly unachievable amount of memorization.
8 binary plus 8 decimal plus 16-for-the-final-four is a total of 32 memorizations. 32. Yeah, no. That's too many.
Very Cool!
Reflection on the table...😀☺😁
card sharks: WRITE THAT DOWN WRITE THAT DOWN
In the evening, do you think about all the number plates of the cars you encountered during the day? At least about the order in which even and odd numbers crossed your way....?
No - but now I will!!!!
It would be easier and better to encode with octal numbers.
Dealing with groups of 3 binary digits to 1 octal digit is super easy. And you put 6 rather than 5 binary digits in 2-digit number so there is less to memorize.
Zoe missed a trick ~ that’s a shiny table top !
Impressive, even with the compression.
I feel like converting the binary to hex would be much easier to remember than decimal.
jjyd i'm gya
Zoe griffiths is absolute worth
Super neato!
I feel like you could also remember 13 base 16 characters a little easier unless I missed something
The last 4 cards weren't actually converted to hex. In each chunk of 6 before, the first was just the color and the rest were converted back to decimal.
Real time database compression :P
Highly reflective table eh?
Magicians who do card tricks have techniques for remembering the sequence of cards. The most astounding fact about a deck of cards is that there are 52! possible sequences. That means a randomized deck of cards will be in a sequence that has never been seen before and will never be seen again (practically).
Mirror table
High schoolers, do the Jane Street program at the end of the video. Jane Street is one of the most prestigious financial firms on Wall Street. If you learn to code young, you can make a ridiculous amount of money there.
Wow. Never need to pay for my beer from now!
I disagree
@@Fanny-Fanny As I
I would just use the table reflections
For faster computer computation
Great trick! Now please make a video where we learn the odds of getting it right by chance. 😁 I imagine tracking how many of each color remain can improve the odds from 1 in 2^52, but by how much?
Interesting question. I suspect that it can't be calculated since every step depends on the previous ones, although I'm no expert.
I tried comparing the two techniques in python (I was quite rusty at this) by trying to randomly reproduce a shuffled sequence of zeros and ones (same number of each), each step either with probability 1/2 or by adjusting by the number of zeros and ones remaining as you suggested. While the idea works well with a small number of cards (like 10 cards), whith 52 cards the effect seems negligeable since the fact of removing the first few cards doesn't change the probability much and we fail quickly anyway. The max number of correct consecutive guesses was around 14 with both techniques (testing 10000 times), and we can imagine that even with the adjustment the proba for 0 and 1 was still very close to 1/2 at that point.
I just realized that every time this technique is effective, meaning it predicts the next number better than with 1/2 proba, it means there must be an imbalance between 0 and 1 so in the previous steps the technique had probably made wrong predictions. Maybe that cancels out ? The only times it doesn't happen is when you reach the end of the sequence, hence why it works with 10 cards.
*Proceeds to encoded in base 52*
More impressive if not done with a reflective table top.
😲 👍 👏
Or you could just use 4 bits and convert to hexadecimal to remember 13 digits instead of 8 signs + 8 2-digit numbers and 4 extra bits.