The link system is used in order to memorise mathematical formulae; the procedure, as always, requires a unique representation of each element, for the example below we will use the following table:
The reader may be daunted by the size of the table required to memorise a shorter looking formula; however, it should be noted that the table is built in order to form a unique and consistent approach which will be applied to all formulae ever memorised-without using a table certain duplications or inconsistent naming conventions may be applied in the future, which could lead to confusion and inaccurate recall. It requires only a small effort to maintain a table of unique identifiers but the rewards are a more systematic approach and thus better recall.
To demonstrate the application to mathematical formulae, let us memorise the equation for the normal distribution density function.
The procedure is as follows:
1. Create a unique set of identifiers for each element.
2. Link the name of the equation to the first element in the equation.
3. Proceed by connecting the rest of the elements using the link method
a. Go from left to right, b. Up to down.
4. Review.
Taking the formula below as the example:
Since we have already created a unique set of identifiers (letters will
be presented by the images from the alphabet list whilst symbols will use images from the table above) we proceed by converting the name of the equation into an image- for a normal distribution think of wide bell (since the distribution looks like a bell), now link this wide bell to the first element which is an elf, imagine a little elf ringing the gigantic wide golden bell to alert everyone that dinner is ready, proceed to linking an elf to an egg that is being crushed between two towers- perhaps as the egg breaks out comes an elf, then link the egg being crushed by the two towers with an eagle, perhaps this is all happening in the eagle’s nest and he is asking them to stop, continue by linking the eagle to a tie that is being cut with a machete by a white beard (Sigmund Freud)- imagine the eagle trying to pull at the tie to save it’s life as the vicious white beard is cutting it, then link the white beard to two pies that are made out of roots- perhaps the beard is tasting the two pies and is disgusted by the “rooty” taste, then link the eel to the two rooty ties- perhaps the two pies are electrified by the eel and their roots are set on fire, proceed by linking a massive bodybuilder Dennis the menace (bodybuilder since it is to the power) that has gigantic eels instead of biceps, then proceed by visualising Dennis riding a tower that is made out of cow’s skin, then link Dennis that has a gigantic egg head and is trying to eat the tower that is made out of cow’s skin, continue by visualising a tower with extremely muscular knees as he is bouncing the egg-headed Dennis on them, then visualise two beards (Sigmund Freud) cutting the muscular knee with a machete and finally visualise a giant muscular knee sitting on a psychiatrist couch as two white beards attempt to analyse the knee’s problems.
The reader may notice that some images were combined to form a more complex image in a process called ‘bundling’. This is similar to adding higher dimensions to the number lists and amounts to reducing the number of images necessary, but at the cost of added complexity. For example,”)2” was visualised as a tower with muscular knees- i.e. combining the leftmost symbol (the bracket) which is represented as a tower with the rightmost symbol (the power of 2) which is represented as a bodybuilding knee- the bodybuilding is due to the number 2 being set to the power.
Performing such bundling avoided the need to create two separate pictures which could instead be easily combined into one image of a tower with muscular knees.
It is recommended to bundle items to reduce the images required, but not to the point of having such complex images that recall is hindered.
The reader should note that when a topic (say mathematics for this example) becomes familiar, some parts of the formula can be omitted, since knowledge of the subject provides you the information needed to complete the picture- thus the link serves as a tool to capture the data that is not familiar whilst your subject knowledge serves as the structure onto which this data is assembled. For example, in the equation above it was not necessary to memorise the brackets with the x between them if prior knowledge of the topic made it obvious that it is a function of x since- mu and sigma are the mean and variance and the only other variable left on the right hand side was x. Such shortcuts should always be used—remember that only what is unknown should be memorised.
Another important point to note is that once information is learnt, it should be used as a shortcut to memorise other information in which it appears. In mathematics, it means that once basic components have been memorised, committing to memory equations that contain them becomes very easy since images the components already exist. For example, say we wanted to memorise the normal cumulative distribution function:
Combined with knowledge of the subject, all that is necessary to memorise the cumulative distribution function is to notice that it is simply the integral of the normal density function- so all we need to do is link camel (for cumulative) to interrogation light (for integral) and interrogation light to the wide bell (normal distribution).
From the above exposition, it is clear that a subject should be learnt from its basic principles towards its complex theories. This way, data learnt earlier can be used to more easily memorise the more complex ideas, as well as having a better structural knowledge onto which the information can be laid.