Mnemonics are memory aids used to enhance recall through associations between easy-to-remember constructs and the data one wishes to remember.
Here’s a list of some of the most popular mnemonics across various fields:
General Knowledge
- North, East, South, West: “Never Eat Shredded Wheat” or “Never Eat Soggy Waffles”
- Order of Operations in Math (PEMDAS): “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division, Addition and Subtraction)
- Colors of the Rainbow: “Roy G. Biv” (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet)
- Taxonomic ranks in biology: “King Philip Came Over For Good Soup” (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species)
Geography
- Great Lakes: “HOMES” (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior)
- Compass Directions: “Naughty Elephants Squirt Water” (North, East, South, West)
Music
- Lines of the Treble Clef Staff: “Every Good Boy Does Fine”
- Spaces of the Treble Clef Staff: “FACE”
- Order of Sharps in Music: “Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle
- Order of Flats in Music: “Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles’ Father”
Science
- Planets of the Solar System: “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles” (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)
- Planets of the Solar System with Pluto: “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas”
- Mitosis Phases: “I Prefer M&Ms At The Club” (Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase, Cytokinesis)
- Electromagnetic Spectrum (from longest to shortest wavelength): “Randy’s Xylophone Grows Bigger Very Rapidly” (Radio, Microwave, Infrared, Visible Light, Ultraviolet, X-rays, Gamma Rays)
Language
- “i” before “e” except after “c” or when sounding like “a” as in neighbor and weigh
Mathematics
- Quadratic Equation: “X equals negative B plus or minus the square root of B squared minus 4AC, all over 2A”
- Trigonometric Functions: “SOHCAHTOA” (Sine = Opposite/Hypotenuse, Cosine = Adjacent/Hypotenuse, Tangent = Opposite/Adjacent)
- Circle Circumference and Area Formulas: “Cherry Pie Delicious, Apple Pie Sweet” (Circumference = πd, Area = πr^2)
Health and Medicine
- Cranial Nerves: “Oh, Oh, Oh, To Touch And Feel Very Green Vegetables, AH!” (Olfactory, Optic, Oculomotor, Trochlear, Trigeminal, Abducens, Facial, Vestibulocochlear, Glossopharyngeal, Vagus, Accessory, Hypoglossal)
- Apgar Score Components: “Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, Respiration”
Chemistry
- Diatomic Elements: “Have No Fear Of Ice Cold Beer” (Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Fluorine, Oxygen, Iodine, Chlorine, Bromine)
- Electronegativity Trend: “FONClBrISCH” (Fluorine, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Chlorine, Bromine, Iodine, Sulfur, Carbon, Hydrogen) – Represents elements in order of decreasing electronegativity.
Physics
- Colors of Visible Spectrum: “ROY G BIV” (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet) – Also applies to science, as mentioned earlier.
- Right-Hand Rule for Electromagnetism: Used to determine the direction of the magnetic force on a positive charge moving in a magnetic field.
History
- Henry VIII’s Wives: “Divorced, Beheaded, Died; Divorced, Beheaded, Survived” (Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, Catherine Parr)
Geography
- Central American Countries (North to South): “Baby Godzilla Eats Hotdogs, Not Cold Pizza” (Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama)
Computer Science
- OSI Model Layers: “Please Do Not Throw Sausage Pizza Away” (Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, Application)
Language Arts
- Parts of a Story/Plot: “Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution” – Though not a mnemonic acronym, remembering the story structure in order helps in literary analysis.
Astronomy
- Types of Stars: “Oh Be A Fine Girl/Guy, Kiss Me” (O, B, A, F, G, K, M) – Classification from hottest to coolest.
Mnemonic for Solar System Including Pluto
When including Pluto, which was reclassified as a “dwarf planet” by the International Astronomical Union in 2006, many still like to remember it in mnemonics for the sake of tradition or nostalgia. Here’s a popular mnemonic that includes Pluto:
“My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas“
This represents the planets in order from the Sun:
- Mercury
- Venus
- Earth
- Mars
- Jupiter
- Saturn
- Uranus
- Neptune
- Pluto
Despite its reclassification, Pluto remains a fascinating object of study in astronomy, and many still hold a fond place for it in mnemonic lists of the solar system.
Conclusion
These mnemonics are widely taught and remembered because they make use of patterns, rhymes, and acronyms, which are easier to recall than the information they stand for.
These mnemonics offer shortcuts to memorizing and recalling information across disciplines, aiding in education, professional work, and everyday life.
They leverage the brain’s ability to better retain and recall information that’s structured in an easily digestible form, such as through humor, rhyme, or acronym.
