Useful Mnemonics

[Ug make hammer]

A mnemonic is something you already know, which is useful to remember something else. For example:

Their — has an "i" in it. Theirs and mine.
There — has "here" in it. Here and there.
They're — has a letter taken out. They are.

You can also ask for mnemonics!

I'm having trouble with the two-letter state abbreviations. Arkansas (AR) for some reason, Iowa (why not IO?) and Tennessee (TN) in particular. Is it necessary to know the order the states were founded in?

 

[Patriotic Voter]

I'm having trouble with the two-letter state abbreviations. Arkansas (AR) for some reason, Iowa (why not IO?) and Tennessee (TN) in particular.

I know what you mean. Especially the states starting with A and M are easy to get mixed up.

But why is Tennessee's abbreviation hard to remember? It is the only state that begins with T.

HI is the Aloha State. So you can't forget the one for Hawaii!

IO would suck. That is half of another state's name.

Is it necessary to know the order the states were founded in?

No, it is not necessary to remember that - after the first 15. (That is how many stars are on the flag that Francis Scott Key wrote a song about in Baltimore.)

 

[Ug make hammer]

I know what you mean. Especially the states starting with A and M are easy to get mixed up.

But why is Tennessee's abbreviation hard to remember? It is the only state that begins with T.

HI is the Aloha State. So you can't forget the one for Hawaii!

IO would suck. That is half of another state's name.

HI and OK are easy to remember, yes.

Arkansas I guess didn't want to be AS. I'm not saying exactly why, because only an idiot would make fun of American Samoa.

 

[Patriotic Voter]

HI and OK are easy to remember, yes.

Arkansas I guess didn't want to be AS. I'm not saying exactly why, because only an idiot would make fun of American Samoa.

American Samoa obviously can't be anything else, so AR is the most logical one. What gets tricky is both Alabama and Alaska begin with AL, both Arizona and Arkansas begin with AR, and both Alaska and Arkansas have a K in the middle.

Oklahoma becoming a state is how people began abbreviating "okay" to OK. Residents celebrated the new statehood by saying, "Oklahoma, O.K."

 

[Patriotic Voter]

On topic: My third grade teacher taught two of them.

"We went together to get her."

July August September October November spell the name JASON.

 

[Patriotic Voter]

My government teacher required everyone to memorize the Constitution and offered ricks for remembering what specific clauses are for.

#1 You can speak.

#5 You can stay silent.

18 you can't drink. 21 you can.

 

[Ug make hammer]

My government teacher required everyone to memorize the Constitution and offered ricks for remembering what specific clauses are for.

#1 You can speak.

#5 You can stay silent.

I knew those anyway. "Plead the Fifth" and all that.

18 you can't drink. 21 you can.

Yes, I find that useful.

22nd for 2 terms or 2 terms plus (just under) 2 years, works also.

 

[Patriotic Voter]

I knew those anyway. "Plead the Fifth" and all that.

Yes, I find that useful.

22nd for 2 terms or 2 terms plus (just under) 2 years, works also.

I have one for the Second Amendment: We each literally have two arms.

If you did not hear so many crime suspects plead the Fifth, would you forget the first part of it?

 

[Ug make hammer]

I have one for the Second Amendment: We each literally have two arms.

If you did not hear so many crime suspects plead the Fifth, would you forget the first part of it?

Not me personally, but I see your point. The implied rights to privacy, and enumerated rights to trial, are far more important than the right not to answer questions in court. Which frankly shouldn't even be a right.

Turning to the times tables. I was never taught the 13-times table and so don't know it beyond 3 X 13. But it should be taught in school because it's a bridge between the easy 11 and 12 times-tables, and the also rather easy 14th, 15th and 16th times tables. The only tables you really need are tables of prime numbers (2,3,5,7,11,13,17,19, ...) so stopping at 7 makes no sense.

Is there a mnemonic for 13 times tables?

 

[Crovax]

But why is Tennessee's abbreviation hard to remember? It is the only state that begins with T.

What?

 

[Ug make hammer]

What?

T-rex-ass shouldn't be forgotten.

Do please remember this isn't a debating thread though. Do you have any mnemonics of your own?

 

[Patriotic Voter]

Is there a mnemonic for 13 times tables?

A deck of cards is how I remember 13 x 4 = 52.

My eighth grade math teacher said nine is the only number you can always do this with:

9 x 2 = 18
1 + 8 = 9

9 + 3 = 27
2 + 7 = 9

9 x 4 = 36
3 + 6 = 9

See the pattern?

 

[Patriotic Voter]

What?

Yeah I know, just playing around with the OP.

 

[Ug make hammer]

A deck of cards is how I remember 13 x 4 = 52.

Thanks for that.

My eighth grade math teacher said nine is the only number you can always do this with:

9 x 2 = 18
1 + 8 = 9

9 + 3 = 27
2 + 7 = 9

9 x 4 = 36
3 + 6 = 9

See the pattern?

It even works with bigger multiplicands*

9 x 9 = 81
8 + 1 = 9

9 x 10 = 90
9 + 0 = 9

9 x 11 = 99
9 + 9 = 18 .... but:
1 + 8 = 9

...

9 x 1387 = 12,483
1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 3 = 18
1 + 8 = 9

This is particularly useful in reverse. If you have a big number and want to know if it's a multiple of 9, add its digits together.


*not sure that's really a word, but the spell checker says it is!

 

[Patriotic Voter]

Your spell checker is correct.

Multiplicand: (noun) A number that is multiplied by another number.

 

[Ug make hammer]

Your spell checker is correct.

My first guess was "multiplicant" but multiplicandy is much better.

It probably comes as no surprise, but the same rule works for multiples of 3:

187,363,574,932
(added together) = 58
5 + 8 = 13
1 + 3 = 4

which is one too many, so
187,363,574,931 is divisible by 3

 

[Patriotic Voter]

It probably comes as no surprise, but the same rule works for multiples of 3:

Nine specifically will always give you the number 9 when you do that addition. With 3, it is always a multiple of 3 - never 3 itself (except for 1, of course). I use that one all the time. If the equation does not add up to 5, I know you can't divide it evenly by 3.

 

[Binary_Digit]

To remember which months have 31 days and which only have 30 (or 28/29), make a fist and count the four knuckles (31 days) and the three valleys (30) in sequential order for each month. When you reach the last knuckle (July/31), start at the first knuckle again (August/31) and keep going.

To determine the difference between a king snake (harmless) and a coral snake (poisonous): Red next to black is a friend of Jack; red next to yellow can kill a fellow.

"I before E except after C" is a foreign and leisurely rule of our weird species that neither science nor counterfeit forfeiters can seize from the heights of our conscience.

 

[Ug make hammer]

To remember which months have 31 days and which only have 30 (or 28/29), make a fist and count the four knuckles (31 days) and the three valleys (30) in sequential order for each month. When you reach the last knuckle (July/31), start at the first knuckle again (August/31) and keep going.

To determine the difference between a king snake (harmless) and a coral snake (poisonous): Red next to black is a friend of Jack; red next to yellow can kill a fellow.

Excellent.

"I before E except after C" is a foreign and leisurely rule of our weird species that neither science nor counterfeit forfeiters can seize from the heights of our conscience.

That takes quite a bit of memorizing in its own right. I don't use any mnemonic for "i before e" and particularly not for "after c":

The BBC trivia show QI claimed there were 923 words spelled cie, 21 times the number of words that conform to the rule's stated exception by being written with cei.[36] These figures were generated by a QI fan from a Scrabble wordlist. — Wikipedia

There is a rule based on how the -ie- is sounded out, but it's not very memorable either.