Do more with less memory

Chapter 13: Rules Make Memorization Easy

The regular memory method has a very close relationship with the understanding of the memory method.Many meaningful things must be understood first, and then their laws can be grasped.

This is equivalent to understanding mnemonics.Originally, there is no need to list another method of regular memory, but here it refers to something else.This is to try to apply our own various knowledge to find out the laws of the material itself that have not been discovered by us.

Taking a rough look at the numbers and symbols below, they seem to be irregular and difficult to remember.But it must be remembered, how to do this?Please see:
8￥1￥6￥4￥4￥9￥3￥6￥2￥5￥1￥6￥9￥4￥1
Slightly sorted into 9 groups

81￥64￥49￥36￥25￥16￥9￥4￥1
So it becomes: 81, 64, 49, ..., as above, anyone will remember at once: they are the square of 9-1.

又如：5￥8￥1￥2￥1￥5￥1￥9￥2￥2￥2￥6
Slightly organized into 7 groups:
5￥8￥12￥15￥19￥22￥26
从5开始，+3+4+3+4+3+4
如上，从第1组（5）开始：+3的和（8）为第2组；再+4的和（12）为第3组；再+3…；+4…；+3…；+4…。

Another example:

电话号码4￥7￥5￥8￥6￥9，可以整理成：47￥58￥69
从47开始，+11…；再+11…；还可以整理成：5￥6￥7￥8￥9，一眼看出它是4，5，6与7，8，9两组连续数的交叉。

Lenin pointed out: laws are relations, relations of essences or relations between essences.This tells us that what the law expresses is the inherent, universal and inevitable connection between phenomena under certain conditions.Everything in the world has its own laws, as in the above example, insight into the laws and use it to remember, it will definitely get twice the result with half the effort.This is why we discuss the regular memory method separately here.

The method of finding and deriving the essential connection (that is, the law) in the memory of things and using it for memory, we call it the method of regular memory.

Psychology tells us that laws are the necessary connections within things.This inevitable connection includes causal connection and sequential connection, that is, the dynamic sequential connection in time from first to last, and the static sequential connection in the direction from near to far, and from local to overall.These connections have a particularly profound impact on the human brain through vision, and are not easy to forget. Therefore, the regular memory method is to grasp the common laws of the memory objects, and then memorize different parts separately, which can greatly reduce the amount of memory, save time and effort, and improve memory efficiency. .

To use the law memory method, you must first master the law.How to master the rules?The answer is: good at analysis, good at understanding, good at summarizing.

(1) To master the laws of things, one must be good at analyzing, and not be confused by the superficial phenomena of memorizing materials.

When studying the history of the Qin and Sui dynasties, many people paid attention to the similar laws of rise and fall of these two dynasties. When studying the history of contemporary literature, they tried to discover the laws of its simultaneous operation with the history of contemporary revolution, and obtained a good memory effect.

(2) Master the laws of things and be good at summarizing.

In memorizing activities, we must be caring people, and we cannot turn a blind eye to various things.Pay attention to extract the development law of things from commonplace things.For example, there are 54 inductive formulas for trigonometric functions, but there is a common law in the relationship of trigonometric functions expressed by these formulas.Grasping this law, we can sum up the two formulas of "odds change and evens stay the same, symbols look at the quadrant".As long as these 10 words are memorized, all the induction formulas can be deduced.Another example is learning the spelling rules and phonetic symbols of modern Chinese, and you can sum up your own set of things to help memory.

(3) To master the laws of things, one must also be good at understanding and clarifying the relationship between the various parts of things.

Once this is done, the problem of memory can be easily solved.For example, when learning modern Chinese, we often encounter the problem of dividing sentences into components. Although we have recited many definitions, we are still "ignorant" when it comes to the exam.The smart way is to understand deeply and figure out the relationship between its parts.On the basis of understanding, we can abbreviate it as "subject-verb-object, fixed form complement, the main branches and leaves are clearly distinguished. The basic component is subject-predicate-object, and the additional component is fixed form complement. The attributive must be before the subject and the object, and behind the predicate Supplement.” These few sentences highly summarize the law of the relationship between sentence components, which are concise and easy to remember.

Everything in the world has internal laws. If we can correctly use the law memory method, find out the regularity and use this law as a guide, we can remember quickly and firmly, greatly improve memory efficiency, and cultivate Thinking ability and innovation ability.

However, there are two problems with the use of regular memory.

(1) Regular memory requires us not to understand the memory materials in a general sense, but to understand the materials, and to abstract and grasp the essential things from a large number of complicated materials on the basis of a clear understanding of the relationship between materials and materials , draw a unified theorem, rule, formula.It is impossible to memorize the rules if you have a little taste and a little knowledge.

(2) Regular memory is suitable for materials that appear repeatedly under the same conditions, but not for materials that appear occasionally under special conditions.

Everything has its regularity.Historical knowledge is no exception. Most historical knowledge is diverse and complex. Through the induction, analysis, and synthesis of various and complex historical knowledge, find out their common characteristics (that is, laws), and then use these laws to memorize historical knowledge.How to find the laws of historical knowledge?
Memorizing historical events: available [historical event = background + process (or content) + result].

Memory of historical figures: available [historical figures = period (ie dynasty), title + main deeds + evaluation].

Memory of historical works: available [historical works = period, author + main achievements + evaluation].

Memorize the rise and fall of dynasties: available [Rise and fall of dynasties = period, early achievements + heyday events + key to rise and fall + ZTE monarch + decline events].

In addition, for major historical events, we can analyze and compare them from the background, process, results, impact and other aspects to find out the law.For example, when analyzing the causes of peasant uprisings in ancient China, although the direct causes of the uprisings are different, the root causes are nothing more than: ① cruel criminal law, heavy taxes, corvee and military service; ② high concentration of land; ③ natural disasters; etc. Wait.Another example is the revolution in modern China, which can often be derived from class contradictions.Find the answer from the perspectives of ethnic conflicts, class structure, and ideological weapons.

Grasp the inherent characteristics of the data and find out its regularity.Polar radius and equatorial radius are two basic concepts to explain the shape of the earth, the former is 6356.8 kilometers, and the latter is 6378.1 kilometers.If the decimals are ignored, it is not difficult to find that the thousands and hundreds digits of these two data are 6 and 3 respectively, while the tens digit and the ones digit are 5 and 6 for the former, and 7 and 8 for the latter, which happens to be Natural numbers 5, 6, 7, 8.The two-point solstice reflects the turning point of the seasons and day and night during the earth's revolution. These dates are: vernal equinox - around March 3, summer solstice - June 21, autumnal equinox - September 6, winter solstice - 22 Around the 9nd of the month.Counting from the vernal equinox, the months of the four solar terms are 23, 12, 22, and 3 in sequence, all of which are multiples of 6, and the dates are 9, 12, 3, and 21 respectively, and the cycle goes on and on, which makes it easy to remember .

For many theorems, laws, and formulas in natural science, if you find out the laws and memorize them on the basis of understanding, the effect will be better.For example, in solid geometry, the surface area and volume formulas of cylinders, pedestals, and cones have intrinsic relationships.If the area of ​​the upper base of the platform is zero, it becomes a cone; if the area of ​​the upper and lower bases of the platform is equal, it becomes a cylinder.Therefore, the side area and volume formulas of the platform can be used as the unified formula for the polyhedron and the rotating body.Remembering this unified formula, you can derive other related formulas.Another example is the formula of Ohm's law in physics. After understanding the principle that current is inversely proportional to resistance and proportional to voltage, this formula can be memorized naturally.

Another example is that there are rules to follow in the memory of foreign words.

(1) Use pronunciation rules.

For example, the pronunciation of vowels (a, e, i, o, u) in stressed syllables, the pronunciation of r syllables in stressed and unstressed syllables, and the pronunciation of vowels in unstressed syllables can be learned without looking up a dictionary Solve the pronunciation problems of most of the words.

(2) Use the same spelling rules.

For example, all, the unit words we have learned include call, ball, fall, and wall.However, there are also many words that do not conform to the pronunciation rules, so we should pay attention to them.

(3) Use word formation.

One of the derivation methods of English word formation is also called the affix method. The suffix "er" is added to some verbs to indicate the person or thing engaged in a certain action.For example, adding the suffix "er" after work (job) constitutes a new word worker (worker).Add prefixes to stems to form new words with opposite meanings, such as usually-unusually, fair-unfair, healthy-unhealthy, happy-unhappy, afraid-unafraid, like-dislike, appear-disappear, etc.

The second method of English word formation - synthesis method, is the method of synthesizing a new word from two or more words.Such as class (class) + room (room) constitutes a classroom (classroom).Such as every (every) + where (where) constitutes everywhere (no matter where). Every (every) + one (one) constitutes everyone (everyone).Grasp the rules of English word formation, and the effect of memory will be improved.

It can be seen that the regular memory method has a wide range of applications.But its strengths themselves also contain weaknesses: that is, people who are required to use this method of memory must have a higher level of thinking ability.If you can't think, you can't grasp the essence through phenomena, and then reveal the common essential characteristics of things, you will lose the premise of using this method, but this is not so absolute.

Since the law is universal and repetitive, as long as we grasp the commonality of things, we can connect with individuality.Using rules to memorize is obviously a relatively advanced memory method. Its most direct and prominent advantage is that it can reduce the burden of brain memory, so as to grasp a key that can solve many problems.

(End of this chapter)