4 ms·

This is intriguing, can you describe in more detail how you map a series of numbers to a shape/sound? like is 1234 a slope / ?

jvanderbot 5y ago
Yes. In fact there's almost no "entropy" to remember in 1234 because it perfectly matches a 45 deg slope. I just have to remember it starts at ground and has length 4. A seq like 1244 has a bit more entropy with the "bump" where the 3 should be, so it's easier to see it as a slope of length 2 starting at 12, or some "busy-beaver" like sequence that starts gradual and curves rapidly up to 44. The bump at 3 seems most natural. A long sequence of numbers looks like monotonically increasing groups or strings, and the curve is easy to remember. Is it a log-like plot, a hyperbolic curve, parabola, saw tooth, line, etc? I usually end up finding a curve that has fewer deviations and matches the numbers nicely. I just have to remember how long each sequence was. Like this: 1234567788100 is 1/7, length 7. 77/99, length 3, except +1 where the 99 should be. It's kind of clumsy with text, easier with pictures and dots, like seeing wood grain or stars. All you need is the "origin" coordinate frame. There's still numbers, but the lines help keep the memory of the relationship more natural. Words are the same. Sounds angle up and down and squiggle back sometimes. It's why my handwriting is so terrible I think. Probably this is how shorthand was developed, so I don't think it's all that unique to me. From there, numbers->sounds is easy enough but never helped me remember things. What helps is the ridge-lines and parabolas.
- codezero 5y ago
  It sounds like you've got some form of synesthesia! I can totally understand what you're saying but there's no way I could apply it to a series of numbers, maybe not even if I practiced. Did you always have this feeling with numbers, or was it practiced at all? It feels like what you're describing is a natural visualization you've developed and it also sounds a lot more powerful than something one might practice.
jraph 5y ago
It sounds like synesthesia. Some people see the year as ring-shaped in their head. The "visualization" is consistent during the lifetime and can help memorizing dates. I don't have this, though I do have a consistent "visualization" of numbers under one hundred (and, yes, months, and days of months, and weeks) since very young. Probably helps a bit to memorize some stuff, though I can't compare with the same me deprived of this view. I'm not great at remembering birthdays but not terrible either. People with such visualizations don't even always realize not all people see them the same way, or at all for that matter.
- nirav72 5y ago
  does it always have to be a ring? I've always imagined a year vertically/top down. Each month a slice. Also alphabet letters in color. Each letter having a distinct color.
  - a_t48 5y ago
    Do you have synesthesia? The alphabet color thing is a common marker of it
    - nirav72 5y ago
      I think I do. As far back as I can remember - I've always seen numbers & letters in vivid color. As well as things like calendar/datetime, distance and direction in some type of geometric shape. I though that was how everyone perceived the world. It wasn't until much later when I came across an article on synesthesia that learned that it was actually a thing.
  - Aeolun 5y ago
    I don’t have enough colors in my head to fill a whole alphabet.
  - codezero 5y ago
    Nope, it doesn't need to be a ring. I was deep into synesthesia stuff when I worked at UCSD and had a friend participate in an experiment at VS Ramachandran's lab and one of the neat things is that a lot of the commonalities are culturally or temporally specific. Many of the people with numeric synesthesia use a ring because they resemble CLOCKS! 1-12 is a common pattern and most people with synesthesia that grew up with this kind of clock have the same pattern for the first 12 numbers, but after that they tend to have their own patterns they develop. This is true for other forms of synesthesia as well, there's not a single "way" but more a categorical set of shared characteristics, usually derived from their surroundings, as this isn't something people get taught to manage or take advantage of, but some folks naturally do. It's truly fascinating. It sounds like you grew up with more calendars than round clocks, or an agenda/diary of some sort, or maybe it comes from something else - think about it, I'd love to know if you can place it! It definitely sounds like you have some form of synesthesia.

jvanderbot 5y ago

Yes. In fact there's almost no "entropy" to remember in 1234 because it perfectly matches a 45 deg slope. I just have to remember it starts at ground and has length 4. A seq like 1244 has a bit more entropy with the "bump" where the 3 should be, so it's easier to see it as a slope of length 2 starting at 12, or some "busy-beaver" like sequence that starts gradual and curves rapidly up to 44. The bump at 3 seems most natural. A long sequence of numbers looks like monotonically increasing groups or strings, and the curve is easy to remember. Is it a log-like plot, a hyperbolic curve, parabola, saw tooth, line, etc? I usually end up finding a curve that has fewer deviations and matches the numbers nicely. I just have to remember how long each sequence was. Like this: 1234567788100 is 1/7, length 7. 77/99, length 3, except +1 where the 99 should be. It's kind of clumsy with text, easier with pictures and dots, like seeing wood grain or stars. All you need is the "origin" coordinate frame. There's still numbers, but the lines help keep the memory of the relationship more natural. Words are the same. Sounds angle up and down and squiggle back sometimes. It's why my handwriting is so terrible I think. Probably this is how shorthand was developed, so I don't think it's all that unique to me. From there, numbers->sounds is easy enough but never helped me remember things. What helps is the ridge-lines and parabolas.

codezero 5y ago
It sounds like you've got some form of synesthesia! I can totally understand what you're saying but there's no way I could apply it to a series of numbers, maybe not even if I practiced. Did you always have this feeling with numbers, or was it practiced at all? It feels like what you're describing is a natural visualization you've developed and it also sounds a lot more powerful than something one might practice.

jraph 5y ago

It sounds like synesthesia. Some people see the year as ring-shaped in their head. The "visualization" is consistent during the lifetime and can help memorizing dates. I don't have this, though I do have a consistent "visualization" of numbers under one hundred (and, yes, months, and days of months, and weeks) since very young. Probably helps a bit to memorize some stuff, though I can't compare with the same me deprived of this view. I'm not great at remembering birthdays but not terrible either. People with such visualizations don't even always realize not all people see them the same way, or at all for that matter.

nirav72 5y ago
does it always have to be a ring? I've always imagined a year vertically/top down. Each month a slice. Also alphabet letters in color. Each letter having a distinct color.
- a_t48 5y ago
  Do you have synesthesia? The alphabet color thing is a common marker of it
  - nirav72 5y ago
    I think I do. As far back as I can remember - I've always seen numbers & letters in vivid color. As well as things like calendar/datetime, distance and direction in some type of geometric shape. I though that was how everyone perceived the world. It wasn't until much later when I came across an article on synesthesia that learned that it was actually a thing.
- Aeolun 5y ago
  I don’t have enough colors in my head to fill a whole alphabet.
- codezero 5y ago
  Nope, it doesn't need to be a ring. I was deep into synesthesia stuff when I worked at UCSD and had a friend participate in an experiment at VS Ramachandran's lab and one of the neat things is that a lot of the commonalities are culturally or temporally specific. Many of the people with numeric synesthesia use a ring because they resemble CLOCKS! 1-12 is a common pattern and most people with synesthesia that grew up with this kind of clock have the same pattern for the first 12 numbers, but after that they tend to have their own patterns they develop. This is true for other forms of synesthesia as well, there's not a single "way" but more a categorical set of shared characteristics, usually derived from their surroundings, as this isn't something people get taught to manage or take advantage of, but some folks naturally do. It's truly fascinating. It sounds like you grew up with more calendars than round clocks, or an agenda/diary of some sort, or maybe it comes from something else - think about it, I'd love to know if you can place it! It definitely sounds like you have some form of synesthesia.