MemoryMentor’s Blog

The Knight’s tour is a great feat of mathematics that allow you to move the Knight around a chess board landing on all squares only once.
To see just how difficult it is, get out your chess board and try moving the Knight around the chess board in its L shaped motion. Imagine now that you were told to start on a particular square and do the tour from there. Or, you were told to finish on a particular square. The task will prove even more complicated!

There is a way to do the Knight’s tour starting on a given square or ending on a said square.
You will nee to have completed the Dominic System here
and you will be using numbers 1 though to 64 as there are 64 squares on a chess board.
The numbers you will need to memorize and the order they are in is below:

01, 11, 05, 20, 37, 27, 44, 29, 35, 50, 33, 43, 58, 41, 26, 09, 03, 13, 23, 08,
14, 04, 10, 25, 19, 02, 17, 34, 49, 59, 53, 47, 64, 54, 60, 45, 28, 38, 21, 36,
30, 15, 32, 22, 07, 24, 39, 56, 62, 52, 42, 57, 51, 61, 55, 40, 46, 63, 48, 31,
16, 06, 12, 18
In a situation like this it is possible to place four people from the Dominic System at each location. So in my first room, I have 01, 11, 05, and 20. But I don’t have four people in that room. I have two people. What I have is the first person, ie 01 (Ozzie Ardillez) doing the action of 11 Arthur Askey. So I use the image of a Bee for Arthur Askey so instead of Ozzie Ardillez kicking a football I imagine him doing kick ups with bees! You could imagine something different for example Ozzie could be running around waving his arms frantically in the air trying to get the bees away from him! Remember, whatever image comes to mind, use it. That is the image that will first come to you. Trust your imagination.

If you look at the bottom left corner (the black square), in chess, this is called A1. But we are going to call it 1. The bottom right square (white), is number eight.

I hope the picture is clear enough for you! Just start in the bottom left and you will be able to figure out which square is numbered with what.
So if you look at the list again, you can see, for example, 01, 11, 05, and 20 this is the route you take on the board. So 01 will be Ozzie Ardilez, square one, next route on the Knight’s tour, is 11, Arthur Askey. So if someone was to say to you to start from square E6, that would be square number 45. That would be Duke Ellington or whoever you have for number 45. You now know the next square will be 28, Benny Hill!

Ever wanted to know how to multiply other than using a calculator? Well we have put together a brilliant trick that is simple to learn and works every time!
We are going to use lines to calculate 21 X 32

First we look at the left part of the sum, 21.

The first digit, 2 needs to be represented in line format. How? Well we draw two lines diagonally, like so:

If it was 31 then there would have been three lines.

Ok, so now we need to draw a line for the 1 of 21:

So now we have the 21 part of the sum sorted out.

Next we concentrate on the 32 part of the sum.

Not surprisingly we need to draw lines in the opposite direction to the way 21 was drawn.

Let’s look at the 3 of 31:

And finally we add the lines for the 2 of 32:

Right, so we have all the work done that is necessary to calculate the answer to 21 X 32. But how do we know what to do next? Easy. Break the diagram above into three sections, the first section is the left part of the diagram, the 2nd section is the top and bottom intersection and the third is the right intersection. The diagram below should clarify this for you:

Looking at part one circled above, you can see 6 red dots. These dots are there when one line crosses over another one. You can see that there are 6 red dots, this makes up the first part of the answer.

Looking at section 2 there are four red dots at the top section and three red dots at the bottom section. Add them together totalling 7. This makes up the second part of our answer.

Finally, part three. There are two red dots cutting the intersection. The third part of the answer is two.

Putting all these answers together to get 672.

So our answer 21 X 32 = 672

So how did you find it?

This method will also work for larger numbers too. Try 123 X 321 and see how you fair.

So what about when the sum gets bigger? How do we tackle it?

Well let’s take an example of 42 X 37, and having drawn in all the lines we should have an image something like this:

Looking at part one on the left, how many red dots are there?

I count 12.

Part two, how many red lines do you see? I count 34 (don’t worry, this won’t make it any more difficult).

And finally, part three. How many red dots? 14.

so, put the numbers together, in order and you get 12, 34, 14

But, this isn’t the answer yet. We need to have only single digits in each part and to do this you add the tens part to the left hand side. The tens part, for example would be the three of 34 or the 1 of 14.

So to make these numbers be on their own its easier to work from the right to left.

Move the 1 of the 14 to the left, adding the 1 to 34 giving 35. In this movement we have just got our last digit in the answer, 4.

So now our sum looks like this:

12, 35, 4

Next, move the three of 35 across to the left, and adding it to the 12, giving:

15, 5, 4

And finally, notice that we cannot add the 1 of 15 to anything on the left hand side, so we know we have reached the end of the calculation. All we need to do now is remove the commas and we have our answer.

So 42 X 37 = 1554

And that’s how you multiply numbers using lines!

If you do not want to use a mnemonic (and let’s face it, they aren’t much good if you are unable to recall what the letters stand for), you can link it into a scene using your imagination.

When I think of networking I think of my local PC World store.

This is the scene for my 7 layers.
In the shop I can see someone doing some Physical exercise.

But it isn’t a person, its a robot and they have a Datalink cable plugged into its foot!

I follow the cable and I see it is connected to a rather large computer that has a big picture of a train on the screen.

It is blowing its whistle too. The train represents Transport.

Session makes me think of a sachet of ketchup. I imagine seeing sachets dropping out of the computer screen and splattering all over the floor.

But all the burst sachets of ketchup are ruining a lovely Presentation a sales person is doing for a customer in the store. Their big white presentation pad is getting covered with red ketchup.

The sales person gets out an Application form for the customer to sign so as they can seal the deal but the customer says no as the Application form is covered with ketchup.

Ok it’s a little weird sounding, but it is definately more memorable than the original format the 7 layers are displayed as.

Ever tried to untighten a bolt but just don’t know whether it is too tight or you are actually making it tighter?

Well this little phrase should help you:

“Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey”

So turn it to the left when unscrewing!

Turning to the Right makes it tight. Turning it left makes it loose.

Ok so I always had a problem with remembering passwords. I was nearly creating a new password a day with all the forums I was signing up to and didnt want to keep using the same password for each forum.

So I started using this neat technique which you are about to learn. It is quick, simple to use and almost impossible for anyone to guess and for you to forget.
I use a simple sentence.

“My favourite dog’s name was Sally”

What you do is decide first off the rules governing your password.
I am going to take the first letter of each word and create my password that way.

so my password is:

MfgdnwS

This means something to you but nothing to an onlooker and is not at all memorable for them!

It would be an idea to add a number on the end, so it could be the dog’s age, or your’s, or a friends etc…
You could alternate letters too; First letter of first word, second letter of second word, third of third, first of fourth etc…

So there you have it, your brand new password “generator” with ever so more memorable passwords!

This little math trick will show you whether a number is divisible by four or not

So, this is how it works.

Let’s look at 1234
Does 4 divide evenly into 1234?

Well for 4 to divide into any number we have to make sure that the last number is even. If it is an odd number, there is no way it will go in evenly.
So, for example, 4 will not go evenly into 1233 or 1235

So now we know that for 4 to divide evenly into any number the number firstly has to end with an even number.

Back to the question…

4 into 1234

What you do is this:

Take the last number and add it to 2 times the second last number.

If 4 goes evenly into this number then you know that 4 will go evenly into the whole number.

So
4 + (2 X 3) = 10
4 goes into 10 two times with a remainder of 2 so it does not go in evenly.

Therefore 4 into 1234 does not go in completely.

Lets try 4 into 3436546
So, from our example, take the last number, 6 and add it to twice the penultimate number, 4

6 + (2 X 4) = 14
4 goes into 14 three times with two remainder.
So it doesn’t go in evenly.

Let’s try one more.

4 into 212334436

6 + (2 X 3) = 12
4 goes into 12 three times with 0 remainder.

Therefore 4 goes into 234436 evenly.

Being able to memorize a deck of cards can have major advantages on the black jack table.

You will see how the journey method comes into practice here too, as well as the 100 people you learnt previous to this section, (the Dominic System).
So, first things first. You need to be very familiar with your 100 people, you are going to use 40 of them. Be familiar with their actions too, they are very important.

The other 12 cards are the Jack, Queen and King.

The ace is real simple to learn, take the Ace of Hearts.
Well, first take the A in Ace then the H in Hearts.

AH is the number 18 from your list of people, in my case that person would be Adolph Hitler.

“Being able to Memorize a deck of cards can have great implications for you at the black jack table, as well as the online black jack tables too!”

Being able to recall in order several decks of cards can give you an unfair advantage in Blackjack. The way the unfair Black Jack advantage is in your favour is all to do with the number of “high” cards left in the deck compared to low cards and also taking into account the number of decks being used in the shoe.

Whilst the cards are dealt the card counter keeps a running total in his mind, based on what cards he has been given and what the dealer plays with. A simple calculation is made and the player decides from the result what the best course of action is to take.
You will do the same for each of the suit cards. You can of course take a look at the list I use to help you along.

Lest take a card. The 6 Clubs. That would be SC - Sean Connery (aka James Bond).
7 Spades - Grandpa Simpson!
Ok, I think you get the picture. Remember, the court cards are important too so make sure you have a person and an action for that card.
To remember the cards:
Start at stage one of your journey. In my case it would be my bedroom.
I turn over the first card. It is the Jack of Clubs. That card is Jack the Ripper the infamous murderer from London.
So firstly I am imagining him in my room with blood on his clothes. His action is ripping clothes or flesh with his knife. But I am not going to use his action, I will be using the action of the next person. I turn over the card and it is the 4 of Spades, Delia Smith! Her action is cooking so I would imagine Jack the ripper standing over my bed frying up some sausages!
The good thing about doing just one person instead of two means you can incorporate another person into the same room with another action, thus letting you memorise four cards in just the one room!
I remember doing this my first time around, it took me about twenty minutes, with a lot of mistakes. Within a few days I was able to memorise the full deck within five minutes and no mistakes. Then I tried two decks of cards, using the exact same method except a different journey after the first 52 cards!

For a complete list of people I use for my cards, including Jacks, Queens, Kings and Aces, take a look here

Want to see the current World UK champion recite a deck on cards in less than 30 seconds?
Watch the video here

Why not put it to practice? Ladbrokes Poker School

This is a shortcut to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius and vice versa.

The answer you will get will not be an exact one, but it will give you an idea of the temperature you are looking at.

Fahrenheit to Celsius:

Take 30 away from the Fahrenheit, then divide the answer by two. This is your answer in Celsius.

Example:

74 Fahrenheit - 30 = 44. Then divide by two, 22 Celsius.

so 74 Fahrenheit = 22 Celsius.

Celsius to Fahrenheit just do the reverse:

Double it, then add 30.

30 Celsius double it, is 60, then add 30 is 90

30 Celsius = 90 Fahrenheit

Remember, the answer is not exact but it gives you a rough idea.

You can see a video of this on my YouTube page here

An easy way to make sure you have been given the correct change when in a shop

The cost of your items total $3.65 and you hand the shop keeper 10 dollars.

All from 9 and the last from ten…

Subtract, using the $3.65 the 3 from 9, the 6 from nine and the 5 from TEN
giving us change to the value of $6.35!!

Give it a try!

Here is a nice simple way to add hours and minutes together:

Let’s add 1 hr and 35 mins and 3 hr 55 mins together.

What you do is this:
make the 1 hr 35 mins into one number, which will give us 135 and do the same for the other number giving us 355

Now you want to add these two numbers together:

135
355
____
490

So we now have a sub total of 490. What you need to do to this and all sub totals is add the time constant of 40.

No matter what the hours and mins are ( as long as they add up to over 60) , just add the 40 time constant to the sub total.

490 + 40 = 530

So we can now see our answer is 5 hrs and 30 mins!

If we wanted to add 1hour 10 mins and 1hour 20mins we would do this:

110 + 120

Sub total would be 230 but adding 40 here would not work. For this to work, the tens part (in this case the 30) needs to be 60 or above as 60 and above is a new hour).