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Author Topic: How do you remember boring mathematical formulas? Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 03-29-2003 02:49 AM                     Well, seems as though I had problems with advanced mathematics in high school. I could never remember the rules in Geometry, and mathematic formulas. But when I graduated from high school in Manitowoc, Wisconsin in 1958, I immediately joined the US Navy for electronics training, and eventually served honorably for 20 years and retired. When I went through the electronics school training, the "dirty mines" of the instructors (eventually I became one to teach vacuum tube theory and the entire radar set AN/APG-51B Radar used in the F3H-2 aircraft,) I remember how to keep formulas in my head. Here is an example: How do you remember formulas? I hope for lots of replys, as my mind is getting feeble, and I still want to remember things so I don't become too obsolete.  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 03-29-2003 03:09 AM                  How about the resistor color code: "Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly". Black = 0, Brown = 1, Red = 2, Orange = 3, Yellow = 4, Green = 5, Blue = 6, Violet = 7, Grey = 8, White = 9. And of course, who could forget "ELI the ICE" man? As related to inductors and capacitors... The voltage (E) leads the current (I) in an inductor (L), and the current (I) leads the voltage (E) in a capacitor (C). OBTW Paul, I used to have a pet frog named "Feeble", but he croaked! >>> Phil  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 03-29-2003 03:48 AM                     Paul -- we learned that as "an old indian name" ... SOHCAHTOA ... it worked for me. There was one for memorizing the periodic table in chemistry...something about "Herman Lies, Never Kills..." something like that, I don't remember it now. Colors of the rainbow, in order -- a nice chap named ROY G BIV -- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo (so often forgotten or ignored) and violet and then there's stuff that's just drilled into you... two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun! the night-time, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, you you can rest medicine yellow and blue make green!  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 03-29-2003 04:43 AM                        When I studied photography at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California, we had to know the complementary colors in order to learn how to make dye transfer prints as well as standard color prints from negaives. These are the primary & secondary colors and how I rememberd them by using word association----- CYAN/RED C R ayon MAJENTA/GREEN M u G YELLOW/BLUE Y ellow B ird -Claude  |  IP: Logged Jeffry L. Johnson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 809 From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 03-29-2003 10:16 AM                        Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me Mnemonic Devices Forget Knot  |  IP: Logged Thomas Procyk Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1842 From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 03-29-2003 12:00 PM                     I learned the Quadratic Formula to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" in High School! X eq-uals neg-at-ive B plus or min-us the square root of, B squared minus 4ac, de-vi-ded-by-2a! =TMP=  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 03-29-2003 01:46 PM                     I don't get it. The syllables don't correspond. Maybe I'm thinking of a different version of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" ? Thomas: you may need to upload a scan of sheet music for that one.  |  IP: Logged Rachel Craven Madam Moderator Posts: 2190 From: Pensacola, FL Registered: Dec 2000 posted 03-29-2003 02:07 PM                     I see it. Just sound it out slow Manny. It jumbles a couple words together on the top line and spreads them out on the bottom line but you can get the tune...sing it out loud.  |  IP: Logged Don Bruechert Mmmmmmmmm, bird! Posts: 340 From: Manitowoc, WI, USA Registered: Jan 2003 posted 03-29-2003 03:18 PM                        I use word association for things, but learned the resistor color code the same way... I am quite good at remembering stupid crap I don't need to know, like license plate numbers, but can't remember the important stuff.... How about PIE for electrical power calculations... P = I * E and you draw it like a pie so the division works out normally....  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 03-29-2003 03:49 PM                     My sister bought into a system for memorizing numbers where each number represented certain basic consonant sounds, some of which are related. 1 = T or D (think of the middle line in the capital "t" and that looks like a "1"...the letter "D" is the same sound as "T" without the added vocalization. That is, your lips and tongue behave the same.) 2 = N (think of the two legs on a lowercase "n" and that helps you associate it with the number "2") 3 = M (you guessed right...3 legs on a lowercase "m"...also think of the 3M company) 4 = R (why? well...fouR, of course!) 5 = L (hold up your left hand with all "5" fingers spread out. Your index and thumb look like the letter "L") 6 = G (soft) or J (a "6" kind-of looks like a "G" ... "J" is the same sound). 7 = K or (hard) C or (hard) G (you have to imagine the leg of the number "7" as the left edge of a letter "K" ... hard "C" and "G" are back-of-the-throat sounds, very similar to "K") 8 = P or B (the "8" looks like a capital "B" and the letter "P" is essentially the same sound without the added vocalization) 9 = V or F (I don't know why, just memorize it...how many clues do you need anyway? What are you? Some kind of moron?) 0 = S or (soft) C The vowel sounds are your wild-cards. This way the number 12 could be "read" or memorized as "tune" and "diamond" would be 1321. "Tunes" would be 120 and "diamonds" would be 13210. Have fun!  |  IP: Logged Thomas Procyk Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1842 From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 03-29-2003 07:53 PM                     Oh yeah. Stupid stuff is easy to remember! The McDonalds Menu Song from 1989, the sound pattern that the Press Your Luck board makes, the fact that "A Man A Plan A Canal Panama" is the longest known palindrome, the fact that you can use a potato to dislodge the metal part still stuck in the light socket... all easy to remember. Formulas on the other hand, who needs 'em! =TMP=  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 03-29-2003 08:13 PM                  Make sure the circuit is off... A potato is "wet" and while not a perfect conductor, it still will give ya a jolt...and I don't mean cola! And Manny: JFC! That is SOOOOOOO confusing! I'd rather speak/listen to "Authentic Western Gibberish! I mean, who could argue with that? >>> Phil  |  IP: Logged Gunnar Johansson Expert Film Handler Posts: 181 From: Gothenburg, Sweden Registered: Mar 2003 posted 03-31-2003 11:00 AM                        You study hard and memerize. Then you apply it over and over again until you know it by heart. If you don´t know it by heart you know how to arrive at it, i.e. you learn some of the really basic forumlas, and how to derive the others from that one. Or you make sure that you know where to look it up (Beta or Physics, dictionaries for formulas), unfortunately that wont work for exams. Those are the only tricks I know to get it all in my head. When I was in the States for a year I too learned SOHCAHTOA (sine=opposite/hypothenuse ...) but I already knew those by heart. THe other trick is to familiarize your self with it all so it bevomes a second nature, and you do it without (almost) thinking, allowing you to almost see the solutions and how to get there without having to do all the calculations... OTOH, if you don´t plan to make it your career, like me, looking it up probably works for most people... I know most of the mnemonic devices posted here, but usually had to learn them first anyway... Maybe I´ll find some things for the knowledge to come... //Gunnar, studying for a Master of Science and Engineering in Engineering Physics, where math is not you second nature, it´s your first...  |  IP: Logged Evans A Criswell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1579 From: Huntsville, AL, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 04-02-2003 10:22 AM                        Wow. I'm surprised I didn't read this thread earlier. First off, math formulas are not boring! Manny outlined a system for associating number with latters. I've had a scheme for this for a long time. Here is the "short form", in which letters are directly encoded as digits. 0 = A 1 = E 2 = I 3 = O 4 = U (that's easy -- the vowels are 0 - 4) 5 = s z f 6 = w y 7 = r 8 = h 9 = g j A = reserved (currently not used) B = b p v C = c k q x D = d t E = l F = m n 53, D825 51FD1FC1 634ED B1 672DD1F E2C1 D825. It's a nice 15-character alphabet, and is used for words that don't have trivial codes in the system that I discussed on the thread about IM abbreviations and shorthands. This encoding converts any word to a hexadecimal integer value, and words that sound very alike often end up with the same code! There is a long form of this code that encodes each phonetic sound in the pronunciation in the word as a 2-digit code, which would be great for a speech program. The phonetic encoding code was first developed in 1980 and modified in 1994 when I wanted it changed to characters that were typable on a keyboard. The old system had all sorts of stange special characters. As for memorizing math formulas, two that come to mind are the formulas for derivatives of sums and products: Derivative of Hi Ho = Ho D Hi plus Hi D Ho Derivative of Hi/Ho = Ho D Hi minus Hi D Ho, over Ho Ho. That's the way I was taught them and the way I remember them.  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 04-02-2003 06:45 PM                     Lets talk about the Machine Tool Trade. In machine tool, there are several issues. Number 1, memeroizing math formulas is a no-no...as it can lead to an accidental error. So, the Machinist usually/always has a copy of the Machinists Ready Reference on hand. Machine tool is all Trig, and the Cartesian Coordinate System. The secret is being able to take a potential clients half-assed inception written on a paper napkin whith half assed dimensions and figuring out how to break everything down into right or acute angles so as to be able to complet the trig for the unknown dimensions. YOU DO NOT NEED A FANCY CALCULATOR! The Texas Instruments TI 36 (battery or solar versions) about $35.00 or so will do everything that you will need in the shop, and I rely on mine every day! When customers are paying major $$ per hr, then efficiency is very important, and this is where a calculator is vital! But one must alway double check ones work ! Breaking everything down into right or acute angles is the easiest way to go, and all the formulas that you need are in the Ready Reference. For the most part, you can do everything by just using Sine, Cosine and Tangent. For the most part, the rest is practically unnecessary. But there are rare occasions when one does need to rely on math for obtuse angles to solve a dimension problem. However, by doing math every day, the formulas do become second nature. OH, AH, OHAH for Sine, Cosine, Tangent. The secret to math is doing it every day. if one is taking a math program for a college degree, then do math every day, as it does not take long to forget and get rusty! Also, During vacation and summer time, still review your math for the next semester! And once you begin your math program (requirements) just keep progressing and do not skip a semester, as you will be sorry!  |  IP: Logged

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