Wang Feng Memory System Investigation Created by Milan Ondrašovič (ID: 2124, a. k. a. Nightwalker), 2014/10/18.
Prologue I do not want to insult anyone by exploring the work of someone I deeply respect. I am just curious and I would like to get some answers. The following analysis is purely based on my current ideas which may change overtime as new information becomes available. Since it has been a long time of last Wang Feng s appearance at some competition, this should not take away his competitive advantage even if I hit the nail.
Prologue I wanted to know more about this system by exploring the videos on youtube, which I hoped would shed more light into this matter. The only thing I probably acquired is more confusion, but I think that sharing my results would not be a waste of time. After all, maybe there will be someone with the adequate knowledge to elaborate more.
Two main questions Does he use only 100 unique images? How does he associate the images together to preserve the original order?
Generally known information The way Chinese mnemonists create their images is based on rhymes or shapes, and so on. It is not the basic phoneticallybased major system when it comes to their powerful 2 digit system. Some people elaborated here: http://mt.artofmemory.com/forums/wang-feng-memorysystem-900.html http://mt.artofmemory.com/forums/wang-feng-989.html http://mt.artofmemory.com/forums/wang-fengs-system-idont-need-a-pen-any-more-5688.html
Videos as a source The following links contain the videos I used as a source of information, respectively, as a source of images. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl2h-qzc0es https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra7kn-qwwlw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_k1m6e1e8e https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwpstfzueqc
Images in the video At the beginning of one of the videos, the viewer is presented with all the images which will appear in the video. But that is not all.
The first question My belief was that he used pure 2 digit system. That is, one object represents 00-99 variations of numbers. But as the video went by, there was a shot of him flicking through his small book of images, and I spotted this. There are two different numbers 15, together with different images. The video with all his images contains only the one on the left.
The first question There was one discussion in a Facebook group regarding World Memory Championships, where Tsogbadrah Badrah shared few details concerning his system.
The first question The system of Tsogbadrah would explain the presence of two different images for the same number 15. I do not understand Chinese language at all, but this another picture from the video seems suspicious in regard of using more than one image.
The first question Later in the video, there is a demonstration of images placement in the location, together with the adequate number sequences.
The first question There are two intriguing 4 digit numbers. 6154 and 3354. Both of them contain number 54, but none of them contains the same image.
The first question First 4 digit number containing 54 can be explained by images from the list. But the another number, 3354, cannot be explained at all. There are no images in the list which would satisfy 3354 in the way it is shown in the video. Even more disturbing is, where is 54 from the first number sequence?
The first question Numbers 33, 54 and 61 are represented by the following images, which only partially correspond to the previous group of images. 33 is not present there.
The first question Another video shows different scenes which demonstrate the image associations. Some of them are explainable according to the previous information about his system. But some of them are a mistery.
This first scene is fine: The first question
The first question The second scene is all right as well:
The first question The third scene raises some question marks: The only picture which would satisfy number 28 is: But no scissors could be found in the list.
The first question The fourth scene falls to the category of unsolved mysteries as well: Nothing of triangular shape could be found in the list.
The first question - hypothesis There is a chance of being the data invalid since Wang could possibly change some images during the video creation, or there was simply a mistake. But so many times? As far as I am concerned, the testimony of Tsogbadrah together with somehow confusing scenes in the video lead me to the conclusion that there is more to this 2 digit system than meets the eye in the first place. I personally do not believe anymore that he uses only 100 unique images for 00-99 variations.
The second question The order in which the images appear does not correspond to the rules he probably uses for some images.that is, ordering from left to the right or from top to the bottom.
The second question The greatest confusion raises the number 7827. The order of the images in the scene is in contradiction to the numbers 6154 and 4029. The images are merged together, because according to the association, the original number should be 2778.
The second question The majority of the scenes I could find adhere to the rules of making images interact form left to the right or from top to the bottom.
The second question Since the images for the number 3354 cannot be obtained from the list provided, there could be a small discussion about the order, because it is not so distinct whether that person came as first and then hearts.
The second question - hypothesis Since the rules for ordering of the images does not seem to be the same every time, maybe there is a small correlation between the first and the second question. Some images are easier to interact with when they are the active objects, rather than passive. So maybe there are different images only for a certain occasions which he finds more memorable.
Epilogue The purpose of this analysis was to gather more information regarding something which has been here for a while, yet, it is not completely known. Many people might disagree with this hypothesis just because the video creators wanted to use images which would be the easiest to animate and many other possible causes of inconsistency. Many theories may raise based on my claims, so I hope there will be enough criticism to wipe the floor with me in order to reveal the truth.
The end...