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Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

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Re: Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

#21
post #11

Those 7 pages cannot be necessary. Could someone sum it up in a paragraph with wikipedia references?

I found it a fascinating article, and also skipped 2/3 of it.

Summary: memory decays exponentially, (e ^ -t) but slower with each repetition (e ^ -0.5t). So there is a sweet spot for timing repetitions, and it can be calculated if you store past data, which makes memorization much more efficient.

Re: Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

#23
post #8

Is there a Mac version?

"Genius" is an excellent Mac flashcard program with spaced repetition. http://lifehacker.com/software/featured-mac-download/memoriz... http://web.mac.com/jrc/Genius/ A lot of Mac people sing its praises.

Should I be suspicious of those glowing reviews, given as the article says, "[the] problem here, from the psychologists' perspective, is that the user's sense of achievement is exactly what we should most distrust"?

Re: Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

#24
Strange - I was on the verge of discovering this for myself for my own language site. I'm already storing the data, but hadn't started with the number crunching yet.

On another note - isn't it scandalous how inefficient education is? Cramming all those mind-numbing details in your brain the night before an exam, and then forgetting 70% of them after a couple of months. Ridiculous and wasteful.

Re: Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

#25
I love this article and wish there was more like it--thanks for posting.

I also wish Piotr Wozniak would write a book (even though he'd probably consider it a waste of time). Work like his is so important, and positive, and humanitarian. Even if he's just doing what he enjoys, I believe we're all the better for it.

Re: Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

#26
post #24

Strange - I was on the verge of discovering this for myself for my own language site. I'm already storing the data, but hadn't started with the number crunching yet. On another note - isn't it scandalous how inefficient education is? Cramming all those mind-numbing details in your brain the night before an exam, and then forgetting 70% of them after a couple of months. Ridiculous and wasteful.

That would be remarkably good retention. I guess it's way worse than that on average, at least for stuff crammed once with no more interest than passing an exam.

Back to the main point: yes, school is very inefficient, but I think the problem of student apathy and disinterest for the subject matter is in more urgent need of fixing than retention itself.

Re: Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

#27
post #19
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(edit) Sorry. I misread your post. Here's the rest of my original comment: I've been using SuperMemo off and on for the last ten years. It is by no means an elegant or user friendly app. However, there is a lot of science behind it and it's worth checking out by anyone interested in memory. Readers of yc should have no problem with it. Another point worth mentioning is that Wozniak has shared his knowledge with the w…

Dude, I meant my reference was a shameless plug. I was doing the plugging. Sorry if that was unclear! I couldn't agree more with your points about Wozniak and Supermemo. Wozniak, Leitner and others were my inspirations. I used their systems while studying myself. (Edited the original to make it more unambiguous!)

Likewise. Sorry about that.

Re: Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

#28
post #3

I will make a shameless, shameless plug.. (disgusting) I have been working on a simpler spaced repetition system (the Leitner System relies on a simple yes/no response) implemented as a wepapp: http://flashcarddb.com The article mentions the popularity of spaced repititon software in Poland. And sure enough a large number of my incoming users are from Poland and a few other European countries that are familiar with t…

I'd suggest having something which explains that the idea is you think of the answer and then tell the computer whether you were right. It took me a while to randomly click "Show answer". I figured that was just for when I gave up.

Re: Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

#29
post #9

Spaced repetition is killer. It seems to take the work out of remembering things, leaving nothing but determination. I've been using http://kanji.koohii.com for awhile, which is an excellent implementation of the technique for remembering the meaning of Japanese characters using a particular method book. A niche site, to be sure, but an excellent implementation overall. I also recommend http://ichi2.net/anki/ , which…

This is good for me; I'm studying for the JLPT 1, and writing a simple web application to assist in vocabulary drills. The application is part of my final project, so I'm not stopping development, but I'll definitely look into adding some of these timing methods into the system.

Also, just to let you know, I've found that studying kanji on their own is generally a waste of time; without context, they tend to lose their meaning quickly. Even if you ask Japanese people to explain kanji, they usually do so by referencing compounds in which that character is present.

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