Toward More Efficient Number Mnemonics

Authors

Mike Keith

Abstract

As pointed out by Ross Eckler in the Nov 2008 Word Ways ("Mnemonics for Number Sequences", p. 297), the well-known type of mnemonic which uses the length of successive words to represent a sequence of decimal digits (with a ten-letter word for each occurrence of zero) is not particularly efficient. If the sequence of digits of π and e, for example) then in the long run this scheme will have an "inefficiency ratio", defined as (total number of letters used)/(number of digits represented), of 5.5. This is pretty far away from 1, which could be considered ideal in some sense.

Recommended Citation

Keith, Mike (2009) "Toward More Efficient Number Mnemonics," Word Ways: Vol. 42 : Iss. 3 , Article 22.
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss3/22