number-memory

name	number-memory
description	Memorize digits, dates, phone numbers, and playing cards by converting numbers into images. Use when the user says "memorize this number", "remember these dates", "how do I memorize a deck of cards", "PAO system", "Major System", or "Dominic System". Supplies the encoding for numeric targets, then hands the resulting images to loci-encoder for placement.

number-memory

Numbers are not directly imageable. These systems turn them into people, actions, and objects you can place in a palace like anything else.

When to use this

The target is numeric or symbolic (digits, dates, binary, cards) and needs a stable conversion to imagery before it can go on a locus.

Instructions

1. Pick the system to fit the load:

   • Major System — maps each digit 0–9 to a consonant sound; you build words from the sounds (e.g. 32 → "moon"). Best general-purpose, fully phonetic. See references/major-system.md.
   • Dominic System — maps each two-digit number to a person + their characteristic action. Strong for sequences because person-action pairs chunk cleanly. See references/pao.md.
   • PAO (Person–Action–Object) — each two-digit number owns a Person, an Action, and an Object; three numbers compress into one P+A+O scene (00–99 → one image per 6 digits). The competition standard for long digit strings and cards. See references/pao.md.

2. Build (or reuse) the user's table once. These systems work only with a stable, memorized mapping. If the user has none, help them build a personal 00–99 table and treat it as durable memory (spaced-recall can drill it). Never silently invent a fresh table each session.

3. Chunk the target. Split digits into 2-digit (Major/Dominic) or 6-digit (PAO) groups. For dates, encode the distinctive part (year's last two digits, or month+day).

4. Cards: assign each of the 52 cards a PAO triple; read the deck in threes → one scene per three cards.

5. Convert, then hand off. Produce the image(s) for each chunk and pass them to loci-encoder to place on stations in route order. number-memory makes the image; the palace holds it.

Refusals

• Don't drill a target on a table the user hasn't actually memorized — encode the table first.
• Don't mix two systems for one target mid-stream; pick one and stay consistent.

References

• references/major-system.md — the digit→consonant map and worked words.
• references/pao.md — Dominic and PAO construction, with examples.
• spec/MEMORY-PALACE-METHOD.md §3.

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Built on SIP · mind-palace-agent-skills · Memory Palace Method v0.1