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Chapter - 14

Numerical Codes

Most people find it extremely difficult to remember figures, although it is necessary to do so in every phase of modern life. Not only in school and college but in everyday life a great deal of time is spent in the tedious task of impressing abstract numbers on our memories.

The thought of our school days brings back a haze of figures learned through painful repetition, historical dates, the height of mountains, the population statistics of cities and states, and usually a great number of mathematical and chemical formulas as well, which consist largely of numbers.

The memorizing of numbers in one form or another is essential for the student, whatever profession or trade he plans to follow. The young lawyer must memorize the numbered paragraphs in volumes on law or the dates of important legal decisions. The doctor has to master, practically verbatim, countless formulas, however wearisome the task may seem.

For the business man and the merchant figures play an equally important role. Cost and selling price, the telephone numbers of business acquaintances, figures in an infinite variety of forms must burden the minds of all of us.

The chief difficulty in memorizing numbers is due to the fact that they are abstract. Not even the liveliest imagination can succeed in making a mental picture of them. Take, for instance, the number 70. We can imagine an old man of seventy, or picture a seventieth anniversary jubilee, and the like, but the abstract number 70, without reference to some concrete matter, is beyond our imagination.

We can overcome this lack of imagination, however, by applying mnemotechnic and translating figures in a simple, apt fashion into words, so that there is no further difficulty in remembering them. The method is simplicity itself—the substitution of letters for figures in such a way that the letters have an easy connection with the figures.

The substitution of letters for figures is, of course, a practice familiar to all readers who understand merchandizing. The merchant often likes to have the cost price of a piece of goods on the price tag without its being so evident that the customer can figure the profit. For this purpose he does not use unrelated letters in making his code but only those which form words and are therefore comparatively easy to remember. For instance, he may select the words "dolar" and "cents," writing the word "dollar" with one J, since he cannot repeat a letter in the code. The substitution of figures would therefore be:

D O L A R C E N T S
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

A piece of goods whose cost price was $38 would therefore be labeled In. The merchant himself would be able to read the tag as 38, while the customer, ignorant of the key, would not be able to translate the code into figures. Theoretically, there is no reason why we should not adopt these words with their code for mnemotechnics. In practice, however, a different system has been developed, a system based on the frequency with which letters recur in the English language, completely disregarding the vowels.

This numerical system has been used by Berol, Roth, Loisette and other writers on the subject, and it seems pointless not to avail ourselves of a tested method which has proved satisfactory for many years.

In forming our numerical code, the following substitution of letters for numerals is the one usually adopted:

1 is indicated by the letter t, because the t has 1 downstroke.
2 by n because n has 2 downstrokes.
3 by m because m has 3 downstrokes.
4 by r because the word "four" has four letters of which r is the fourth; and besides, r is the emphatic consonant in the word "four."
5 by 1 because Roman capital L means 50.
6 by J. If you turn 6 around you practically have J.

7 by K. The initial stroke in writing a calligraphic K is similar to a 7.
8 by f. The small written f and the number 8 both have two loops.
9 by p. If you turn 9 around, you have P.
o by z, because z is the last letter in the alphabet, and the familiar Latin word zero, which means nought, begins with z.

As you see from reading this code system, it is extremely simple to understand and use. We now have the following:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
 t n m r l j k f p z

Once the principle of substitution is clear, the next step is to extend its application. In doing this, it must be borne in mind that in this method no attention is paid to spelling; it is based entirely on the sound of the letters. Consequently, all letters which sound alike are considered, for our purposes, identical, and we can therefore extend the above substitutions as follows:

For the cipher 1: Use d or th, as well as t, since all three are similar in sound.

For the cipher 6: Similar to the sound of ƒ are the sounds of ch and sh, as, for instance, in the words chair and ship.

In addition, g when it has a soft sound as in George, germ, or giant. For the cipher 7: Hard g belongs with the k sound, because in such words as garden, game, guest, the sound is similar. In this group, also, belongs the hard c, as in calm, call, Cambridge.

For the cipher 8: Similar to the sound of f is the consonant v, and also ph in such words as phantasm, phone, phase.

For the cipher 9: p sounds like b, for it also is a labial.

For the cipher o: z is phonetically like s, as is also soft c, in such words as cipher, civic, cigar.

This completes the system of numerals and gives us the following:

I     2       3          4       5       6             7          8          9          0
t     n       m         r        I        y             k          ƒ          P          z
d                                           sh            hard g   V         b          s
th                                          ch            hard c   ph                    soft c
                                             soft g       ng                                
                                             tch, dg     q                                 
 
In order to prevent any misunderstanding, let me emphasize the following points:

(1) Vowels and the consonants w and h have no numerical values, when they stand alone. This is not true when h is used in conjunction with another consonant to form a single sound. In this case the sound is the determinant. For instance, in accordance with the foregoing rules of substitution, enough would be expressed by the figures 28, because the consonants gh in this instance are sounded as f.

(2) Consonants not listed in the above table, but with sounds similar to those given, are, of course, to be classified in like manner. For example, q has the numerical value of 7, because it sounds like Jc. X is rated, as a rule, as 70 because it sounds like ks in such words as extra and extract. However, when it is pronounced like z, as in xylophone, it is valued as o.

(3) Double consonants count as single ones, since the sound of a double consonant is identical with that of a single consonant. For instance, in the number code letter is considered as though spelled with one t.

(4) The phonic ng is coded as 7, like the hard sound of g, since it might easily be confused with nk, which is represented as two single consonants, 27.

(5) Since numbers that begin with o are rarely encountered aside from mathematics, words beginning with s or z may be treated as though these two consonants did not exist. This rule, however, should be followed only for practical convenience and should never be used by readers who work with figures starting with o.

All these rules are simple when one realizes that sound —that is, the pronunciation of the word and not its written appearance—is the essential factor. For this reason the beginner is urged to begin by coding words he hears and not those he sees in print.

Here are some examples, with codes that are simple and present no difficulties:

          9 1                                        14
          bet = 91                                dry = 14
          7 3                                        4 2
          game = 73                             iron = 42
          512                                       84 01
          litany = 512                           frost = 8401
          7 42 5                                   4 9 95 7
          kernel = 7425                        republic = 49957

With a little practice it is easy to master this numerical code. In fact, it can be learned in about an hour. The best method is to go into your room or for a walk and ask yourself the numerical value of the various items that catch your eye. For instance, if you see a book, you will know that "book" is 97. If you see a tree, you will know that "tree" is 14. If you see a river, your mind translates it into 484. It is far simpler than it appears at first sight.

The following words may be difficult for a beginner. But if you learn the basic rule—to follow the sound and not the appearance of the word—your difficulties will vanish.

Hello is 5, since the initial letter h has no code cipher and the double 1 is treated as single i.

Warrant is 421, since the w has no code cipher and double r is counted as 4.

Window is 21, since neither the initial nor the final w has any value.

Wing is 7: w is not counted, and ng is treated as g.

Warship is 469: w is not counted, and sh, a compound consonant, counts as 6.

Heart is 41: h is not counted.

Knack is 27: the initial k is silent and ck has the same sound as k.

Lamb is 53: the b is silent.

The sound alone is important in this numerical code. This can be demonstrated most clearly by words in which gh has different sounds:

Ghost is 701, because gh is pronounced like hard g.

Enough is 28, because gh is pronounced like f.

Neighbor is 294, because gh is entirely silent.

In the beginning, do not bother too much about the words which you have difficulty in coding. As you become more adept, you will find even the most difficult words rather easy to code. But do not make the mistake of attempting too soon to reverse the process and translate numbers into words. Although this is our final objective, our immediate concern is to learn to translate words into numbers. This is absolutely necessary.

Do not go on to the next section until you have mastered this numerical system so thoroughly that you can rapidly translate into the numerical code any object you observe. The efforts required of you are slight, and as you go on you will find that they are well repaid.

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