Remember numbers and learn semaphore and morse code

September 23, 2015

The skills of being able to remember long numbers, communicate using semaphore, and communicate in Morse code are valuable for everyone to know. Here are a few tips and tricks to help get you started.

Remember numbers and learn semaphore and morse code

Tips to help remember numbers

We live in a world of numbers, and it's near impossible to remember them all. There are some simple tricks, though, to keep random series of numbers such as security codes in your head.

Break them down: 

  • Just as phone numbers would be harder to recall if they didn't divide into area codes and unique numbers, any long numbers can be divided into manageable 'chunks'.
  • Instead of a 16-digit bank card number, memorize four four-digit numbers.

Use rhythm and repetition:

  • Reciting numbers in threes is really effective as it resembles normal speech patterns.
  • If the long number doesn't divide into threes, add "and" or "and a", for example 146 289 722 and a 9.

Use rhymes:

  • Substitute bun (one), shoe (two), tree (three), paw (four), hive (five), bricks (six), heaven (seven), gate (eight), line (nine), hen (ten) — pictures you can visualize — for digits.

Understand semaphore

As long as two people can see one another, they can use flags and arm movements to send short, simple messages over long distances.

There are eight arm positions:

  • Straight up and down
  • Horizontal (left and right)
  • Diagonally up (left and right)
  • Diagonally down (left and right)

Each letter of the alphabet is a combination of two arm positions – imagine hands pointing to a clockface of eight hours. Once you have learned the semaphore alphabet, you simply spell out your message, one letter at a time.

Read and send morse code

Morse code is a method of transmitting messages using sound or a flashing light. It's a useful way of communicating over long distances, or when face-to-face communication is impossible.

Letters of the alphabet:

  • Morse provides a means of representing each letter of the alphabet using combinations of dots (short bursts of light or sound) or dashes (longer bursts, equivalent to three dots).
  • The sender spells out the message letter by letter, leaving an interval the length of one dash between letters, two dashes between words.
  • To write or read Morse fluently takes time and practice, and there's no shortcut to mastering it.
  • In the days when Morse was widely used in wireless telegraphy and by ships at sea there were many skilled operators.
  • Knowledge of Morse code is now rare — but it's still worth everyone's while to know the Morse distress signal, which is the three letters SOS — or dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot.

While these are skills rarely seen in the modern world, you never know when they might come in handy. If nothing else, it definitely won't hurt to know how to do these things, so brush up on your Morse code and communicate with people like in the old days.

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