Page 208 - Use Your Memory

MEMORY SYSTEM FOR DATES IN OUR CENTURY
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making the words DRaweR, SNaiL, SMaSH and THRuSH.
These can then be linked by imagining a drawer on which a snail's
shell is smashed by a thrush. In this way the key numbers for the
months can be remembered.
In addition to the key numbers for the months, the years
themselves have key numbers, and I have listed them, from 1900
to 2000.

This system is not so easy to master, but with a little practice it can
become almost second nature. The method is as follows: given the
month, numerical date and the year, you add the number repre-
sented by the month key to the number of the date, and add this
total to the key number representing the year in question. From
the total you subtract all the sevens, and the remaining number
represents the day in the week, taking Sunday as day 1. If the total
is exactly divisible by 7, e.g. 28, subtract one less 7 (in this case 3 x
7 = 21 instead of 4 x 7 = 28).
In order to check this system, we will take a couple of examples.
The day we will try to hunt down is 19 March 1969. Our key
number for March is 4, which we must then add to the date in
question, which is 19: 19 + 4 = 23. To this total we must add the
key number for the year 1969. Referring to the list we find that this
is 2. Adding 2 to our previous total we arrive at 23 + 2 = 25.
Subtracting all the sevens from this (3 x 7 = 21) we arrive at 25 —
21 = 4. The day in question is consequently the 4th day of the
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