Shareware Overload/ShartewareOverload.cdr/database/supermem.zip/MANUAL2.TXT

Text File | 1991-10-02 | 24KB | 754 lines

Copyright (c) 1991 SuperMemo World
All Rights Reserved


This file contains large fragments of the
SuperMemo 2 Shareware help.
The following topics are covered:

1. Introduction
2. About the SuperMemo method
3. Basic operations
  3.1. Creating a SM knowledge database
  3.2. Appending items to your database
  3.3. Learning and repeating items
4. Process information window
5. Menu options
  5.1. Test
  5.2. Present items and search for items
  5.3. Append items
  5.4. Factor distribution
  5.5. Daily burden
  5.6. Miscellaneous menu
     - Random test
     - Compress
     - Disk initialization
     - Sound
     - Info
  5.7. Help
  5.8. Save and Quit
6. Assessing the quality of your answers
7. Difficulty factors
8. Hints and tips for SuperMemo learners
  8.1. Setting the correct date
  8.2. Exiting SuperMemo
  8.3. Workload
  8.4. Regular work
  8.5. Concentration
  8.6. Formulation of items
  8.7. Common mistakes
  8.8. Cannot run SuperMemo?
9. Data security
10. SuperMemo database
11. Transfrm and Recovr utilities
12. Public license agreement



       SuperMemo 2.s - SHAREWARE
           by SuperMemo World


1. INTRODUCTION
===========================================

SUPER-MEMO is a program designed to help you
in your education, whatever it might be.
It applies an extremely effective method
of repetition scheduling.
If you want to be successful in your studies,
scientific work or business activities,
you will have to learn many things that by
no means want to stick to your memory.
SUPER-MEMO solves the problem of forgetting
and allows you to be truly successful.
Try and see! You have much to win! Good luck!

SUPER-MEMO will let you store a collection
of question-answer pairs on the disk.
These pairs are later referred to as items,
and the collection of items is later called
a database.
SUPER-MEMO will let you memorize items stored
in the database and minimize the time
necessary for memorization and retention of
knowledge in your brain.
All you have to do is to create/buy/copy
a database and test yourself systematically.
Later you should also learn a bit about the
database maintenance.
  That's all!  Everything else is optional!


2. ABOUT THE SUPER-MEMO METHOD
==============================================


The SUPER-MEMO method is a tremendously
effective technique allowing you to memorize
large quantities of data in shortest possible
time.
It was developed in Poland, in the years
1982-1987 by a biologist Piotr Wozniak.
The SUPER-MEMO method, if it is to reveal
all its advantages, requires application of
a computer, although a paper based variant
is also much more effective than traditional
techniques used in learning.
Several computer programs are available that
apply the SUPER-MEMO method, and the design
of others is underway.

Majority of human abilities, as they are seen
by an observer, is acquired in the process of
learning.
A baby is a superb learning automaton that is
provided with  an extensive storage of infor-
mation (the cerebral cortex of the brain),
and amazingly effective mechanisms for
acquisition of knowledge.
Efficient learning is therefore one of basic
factors determining knowledge, skills and
intelligence of an individual.
The knowledge acquired in the process of
learning is stored in the form of long-term
molecular changes in neuronal synapses,

but these changes tend to decline persistent-
ly, independently of the importance of the
knowledge stored.
The mechanism of forgetting is the best
protection against running out of the storage
space, and it is practically impossible to
fill up the memory so that new information
cannot be stored.
There is also a mechanism that protects the
most important data against complete decline
- the mechanism of fixation, in which the
the most often used information is amplified.
Hence  the importance  of repetitions  of
acquired knowledge or skills.

The optimal repetitory process is such a
process that satisfies two contradictory
criteria:
- repetitions are frequent enough to ensure
  that the knowledge will not be forgotten,
- repetitions are rare enough to ensure that
  the time spent on learning will be minimal.
The SUPER-MEMO method applies simple mathe-
matical optimization technique to calculate
the optimal frequency of repetitions, or more
exactly, to calculate optimal intervals
between repetitions, which depend on:
- capacity of a given individual,
- difficulty of a given piece of knowledge,

- retention strength of a given piece of
  knowledge (i.e. how well it is remembered
  at the moment).
SUPER-MEMO program is responsible for the
following:
- creation and maintenance of the database
  consisting of question-answer pairs,
- control of knowledge repetitions based on
  the calculation of optimal intervals,
- providing the user with mechanisms of
  memorization process supervision.
Computer applications of the SUPER-MEMO
method have been investigated since 1987
revealing its sensational effectiveness.

Although the present version of SUPER-MEMO
requires the knowledge to be represented in
the form of text, the SUPER-MEMO method was
also successfuly employed in learning type-
writting, playing drums and playing bass.



3. BASIC OPERATIONS
=============================================

3.1. CREATING A DATABASE

To create a new database you should:
   - initialize the database using the
     DISK INITIALIZATION option from the
     MISCELLANEOUS menu,
   - create and store new items using the
     APPENDING ITEMS option (you can also
     modify items using PRESENT ITEMS option)

Instead of creating your own database you
can take or buy a database created by
somebody else even if it has already been
used. The only thing you will have to do in
such a case is to transform this database to
an unused form.




3.2 APPENDING ITEMS TO YOUR DATABASE

APPENDING ITEMS is done in order to add new
question-answer pairs (items) into your data-
base.
These pairs do not enter the process immedi-
ately but are pending in the priority queue.
The priority queue is being emptied only then
when you wish to memorize items stored in it.
Thus you can append more items that you can
let into the process at the same time.
Later you can gradually memorize pending
items from the priority queue.
You will see, that each item added to the
database increases the TOTAL number of items.

You can also find that appending items you
will change the INTACT parameter indicating
the number of items in the priority queue.
On the other hand, the MEMORIZED parameter
(the number of items that have been learned)
will remain unchanged.



3.3. LEARNING AND REPEATING ITEMS

You can test your knowledge using the TEST
option. The only thing you must care about
is that you start working with SUPER-MEMO
having the date set, so that the program
knows what day it is, and what it should ask
you about.
As you can find by yourself, you will be
asked questions selected by the program.
You will have to assess the quality of your
answers in a 0-5 grade scale.
On the base of this quality, the program will
decide when the item should be asked next.
You can alternate testing with creation and
modification the database.




4.  PROCESS INFORMATION WINDOW
==============================================

Below the main menu of SUPER-MEMO you can
find the following parameters:
 - DAY tells you for how many days have you
       been using the database and what is
       the current date (the date format used
       by SUPER-MEMO is day:month:year),
 - OUTSTANDING tells you how many items you
       will have to repeat on that day,
 - MEMORIZED tells how many items of the
       database you have memorized,
 - INTACT tells how many items are pending
       in the priority queue,
 - TOTAL is equal to the total number of
       items (TOTAL=MEMORIZED+INTACT).




5. MENU OPTIONS
===============================================

5.1. TEST

The TEST option is used to remind you these
items which are most likely to be forgotten
in nearest days.
If you have not tested yourself for few days,
all outstanding items assigned to these days
will also be repeated.
After all outstanding items for a given day
have been repeated, all of them that have not
been remembered well enough are repeated
again (until they score at least 4 points in
the quality assessment scale).
When there is nothing to repeat, TEST is used
to memorize  new items  (these which are pen-
ding in the priority queue).


5.2. PRESENT ITEMS AND SEARCH FOR ITEMS

The PRESENT ITEMS option allows you not only
to browse the database and see items stored
in it, but also to change (edit) these items
or to delete them when wished.

The SEARCH option also allows you to see,
modify or delete items.

The main difference between PRESENT ITEMS
and SEARCH is that to locate a given item
you use its number in the former or a
substring of the item in the latter.


5.3. APPEND ITEMS

The APPEND option allows you to append new
items to your SM database.


5.4. FACTOR DISTRIBUTION

FACTOR DISTRIBUTION - allows to see what
is the participation of items of a given
difficulty in the whole database.

FACTOR DISTRIBUTION is used to present the
distribution of items with respect to their
difficulty.
The easiest items have their factors equal
to 2.5 and the most difficult items have
factors equal to 1.3.
FACTOR DISTRIBUTION presents a histogram
which illustrates how many items belong to
a given class of difficulty and what is the
percentage they make up in the whole data-
base.
At the beginning, factors of all items are
assumed to be 2.5 and they are later modified
on the base of quality of answers in the TEST


5.5. DAILY BURDEN

DAILY BURDEN allows you to check how many
items you will have to repeat on a given
day and eventually what these items are.
Items are repeated then when they are the
most likely to be forgotten and it is the
program that decides when a given item is
to be repeated.

All items that are to be repeated on a given
day are stored on the disk in the form of
a list, so it takes some time until the
program can find out their number.
Thus it seems unlikely that you will like
using this options with a floppy disk system.

5.6. MISCELLANEOUS MENU

 - provides such options as:

* RANDOM TEST - presents items at random,
  allowing you to do testing without changes
  in the database.

 You can use this test for:
  - testing your colleages or students,
  - checking what is the percentage of
    items that you remember (you should not
    score below 90% !),
  - calculation of the distribution of
    particular topics in the database,
    distribution of intervals, repetition
    numbers etc.


* COMPRESS - allows to compress the database.

The COMPRESS option is used to set the
database files in order i.e. to perform a
general garbage collection.
Compression of files is done in two stages:
 A.compression of DATES and FUTURDAT files
   in order to get rid of outdated info about
   the process,
 B.compression of ITEMS and ITEMINFO files.
Compression of the PRIOR file is done automa-
tically whenever the priority queue is empty.
INFO file is never compressed.
The first stage of compression is faster and
should be done every month to avoid excessive
growth of DATES and FUTURDAT files.

The second stage of compression is necessary
only then when a large number of items has
been deleted or edited (changed).
This stage lasts pretty long (even if it is
done on a hard disk or RAM-disk).
Be sure, that you have made back-up copies
of your files before compression.
If you cannot compress your files because
SUPER-MEMO stops reporting an error, then
your database must have been damaged.
In such a case you can compress the database
using RECOVR.EXE (it applies extensive
compression and enables elimination of a
large class of errors).


* DISK INITIALIZATION - allows to create a
  framework for a new database.

DISK INITIALIZATION is used to create new
database files i.e. to create a new database
which does not contain any items.
You will use DISK INITIALIZATION whenever
your database grows too large and it is no
longer advisable to append new items to it.
You must be aware that DISK INITIALIZATION
deletes all SUPER-MEMO files from the
current directory.
Make sure that you have enough space in the
current directory for storing newly created
files, otherwise the program will stop
reporting the error.

* SOUND ON/OFF - allows to switch off peeping
  if you do not like it.

* INFO - provides information about
    SuperMemo 2 shareware and about
    SUPER-MEMO WORLD.


5.7.  HELP - allows to learn about SUPER-MEMO.


5.8.  SAVE and QUIT - allows to end the work
     with SUPER-MEMO and save modifications.




6. ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF YOUR ANSWERS
================================================

It can often be observed that users of
SUPER-MEMO tend to forget about the impor-
tance of proper assessment of answer quali-
ties.
In extreme cases they use only two grade
scale: 5 - OK and 0 - I do not remember!
The optimization method is based on calcu-
lation of difficulties of items, so that
judging answers is tremendously important!
You are even allowed to input fractional
values to make estimations more accurate.
Read exactly the rules for quality assess-
ment and obey them. Otherwise you stand a
lesser chance to live up to your expectations

The 0-5 grade scale used in assessment of
quality of answers given to questions during
execution of TEST:

   5 - perfect response,
   4 - correct response with hesitation,
   3 - correct response given after longer
       consideration,
   2 - wrong response, very close to the
       correct one,
   1 - wrong response; the correct answer
       seems to be familiar,
   0 - complete blackout.


7. DIFFICULTY FACTORS
============================================

The difficulty factors determine how hard it
is to remember a given item.
They belong to the range <1.3,2.5> and the
greater they are the less difficult the item
is.
All items have their factors estimated to
equal 2.5 initially, and this value is modi-
fied on the base of appropriate answer quali-
ties, i.e. when an item is remembered well
its factor remains unchanged or even may
increase, otherwise the factor decreases.


8. HINTS AND TIPS FOR SUPER-MEMO USERS
==============================================

8.1. SETTING THE CORRECT DATE

You must always set the system date before
you start your work with SUPER-MEMO.
The date is important for the program to
know what day it is, and which item it should
ask you on that day.
If you have a battery backed RAM in your PC
then your life with SUPER-MEMO will be easier
Otherwise you will have to set the date
before you load the program (use the DATE
command of DOS or create a batch file that
will do it for you).

   WORKING WITH A WRONG DATE SETTING WILL
 CERTAINLY MAKE A LOT OF MESS IN THE PROCESS!


8.2. EXITING SUPER-MEMO

 Do not forget that you should always leave
 SUPER-MEMO by selecting the SAVE and QUIT
 option.
 Do not use the Break key nor switch off
 the computer before saving data.
 If you fail to do so the database files
 will not be closed and their content may
 become inconsistent.
 It is possible that in such a case you will
 have to use recovery tools to make the
 database consistent and, as you suspect,
 the recovery will unevitably cause partial
 lost of data.


8.3. WORKLOAD

Whenever somebody wants to use SUPER-MEMO it
is usually after he has learnt that some of
his colleagues is using it and memorizes
thousands of items in an amazingly short time
No wonder, that when he finally loads SUPER-
MEMO on his own PC he vigorously begins ex-
panding his database with intention to double
the feat he has heard of.
In such cases, the zealous user will soon be
flooded with an overwhelming stream of items
and if his motivation to work hard is not
sound, he is likely to get discouraged and
give up.
  DO NOT RUSH, CHECK YOUR CAPACITY FIRST!

The best way to avoid the aforementioned
problems is to allocate no more that 5-10
minutes a day to work with SUPER-MEMO.
Only when the mechanisms of SUPER-MEMO will
become more familiar, one can decide if he
is consequent enough to work longer.
Relatively best results where achieved by
user who worked 30-45 minutes a day.
Even for the strongest learners 60 minutes
of SUPER-MEMO a day may be too much!
Obviously if you are sure that you can
persist working harder in a long run, there
are no contrrecommendations, on condition
that your work will really be regular.


8.4. REGULAR WORK

 All calculations on which the SUPER-MEMO
 method was based assume that the learner
 allocates time for learning everyday!

 So it should be clear that:
 ALL PAUSES IN LEARNING WITH SUPER-MEMO
 WHICH ARE LONGER THAN ONE DAY DECREASE
 THE EFFECTIVENESS!!!
 It means that having breaks in your process
 you will have to spend more time for memo-
 rizing a given number of items!
 There are mechanisms in the SUPER-MEMO pro-
 gram that allow you to catch up if neces-
 sary, but you should never abuse it.


8.5. CONCENTRATION

SUPER-MEMO forces your brain to work with
an extreme intensity (you can find that it
is hard to work with it for longer than an
hour). This may cause a self-defence reaction
resulting in negligent repetitions.
And negligence is one of the worst habits of
SUPER-MEMO users that inevitably leads to
results that compare poorly with that of the
most strenuous and highly motivated learners.
IT IS BETTER TO LOOSE SOME TIME WHILE TRYING
TO RECALL A GIVEN ANSWER, THAT TO REPEAT THE
ITEM INFINITELY!
Do not give up too early, and if you have to
then think a bit why the item is so hard.


8.6. FORMULATION OF ITEMS

 It is quite a funny picture, when a zealous
 SUPER-MEMO user persistently strains every
 nerve in his efforts to remember strenuously
 constructed monster items consisting of
 innumerable indigestible terms, definitions,
 descriptions, symbols, constants, formulas..
 The idea of SUPER-MEMO is based on dividing
 the knowledge into smallest possible grains
 so that the optimization procedure can be
 applied to each.
 If it were not necessary, we could have
 an answer in the form of a book and I am
 sure that there are few persons on this
 globe that are able to remember whole books.

ITEMS SHOULD ALWAYS BE AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE!
Instead of asking:
"What are the systems of the human organism?"
and providing the answer:
"digestive, lymphoid, immune, endocrine...."
we should rather construct few items so that
the answer could be:
"regulatory systems and executive systems"
and another item could read:
"What are the regulatory systems" with the
answer "nervous and endocrine".
   REDUNDANCY CAN DECREASE YOUR WORKLOAD!
PS. I  do not  claim  that  my division of
    systems of the organism is best possible.


8.7. COMMON MISTAKES

Here is a list of common mistakes made by
SUPER-MEMO beginners, which are in a great
extent responsible for their unsatisfactory
progress:
 - having too difficult items
 - working unsystematically
 - not being concentrated
 - judging answers inadequately
 - memorizing too many items at once
 - disregarding security principles.


8.8. CANNOT RUN SUPER-MEMO?

If you cannot run SUPER-MEMO then check if
the CONFIG.SYS file allows to open at least
12 files (you can use CONFIG.SYS from the
distribution disk).
If your CONFIG.SYS is OK and you still cannot
run then check if all database files are
present in the current directory.
In other cases check if you have enough disk
space for storing the database files.
If your SUPER-MEMO reports errors when you
use TEST or DAILY BURDEN or COMPRESSION then
you will have to repair the damage by means
of  RECOVR.EXE.



9. DATA SECURITY
===========================================

To guarantee the security of your databases
you should remember about the following:
  - use SAVE AND QUIT to end your work,
  - always keep back-up copies of your
    database files,
  - never work on original files (create
    temporary files and work with them),
  - do not create too large databases
    (say over 3000 items or over 200 kB),
  - compress your databases every month,
  - keep the date setting accurate.

    YOUR DATABASES ARE TOO PRECIOUS TO
        DISREGARD THESE PRINCIPLES!


10. SUPER-MEMO DATABASE
============================================

The database of SUPER-MEMO 2 consists of the
following files:
 INFO.DB - contains basic information about
   the database (number of items, number of
   items memorized, date of creation, last
   date of reference, factor distribution
   array etc.),
 ITEMS.DB - contains the items,
 ITEMINFO.DB - contains info about items
   (factor, last interval, number of repeats)
 DATES.DB - list of pointers to FUTURDAT.DB,
 FUTURDAT.DB - list of lists containing items
  which are to be repeated on a given day,
 PRIOR.DB - list defining the priority queue.





11. TRANSFRM AND RECOVR UTILITIES
=============================================


The TRANSFRM.EXE program may be used to
adapt a database created by another person
(say your colleague), so that it can be
reused.
To transform the database files to an unused
form run the TRANSFRM.EXE from within the
directory where the database files are stored
(e.g. type TRANSFRM if the program and the
database are in the current directory).
After execution of TRANSFRM you can see the
following changes in the database:
 -  INTACT=TOTAL  (i.e. MEMORIZED=0),
 -  all items have factors equal to 2.5
 -  the DAY parameter equals to 1 etc.

The RECOVR.EXE program is used to compress
the database files so that possible errors
in DATES.DB and FUTURDAT.DB can be repaired.
Damage to these files is especially dangerous
considering the list structure of FUTURDAT.
Other kinds or errors are less likely and
easier to correct.
To compress files with RECOVR.EXE you must
execute this program from within the direc-
tory containing the database files (e.g. type
RECOVR if the program and the database files
are in the current directory).
All items lost because of the damage will be
appended to the priority queue.



12. PUBLIC LICENSE AGREEMENT
============================================



You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the SuperMemo 2
Shareware files provided that you keep intact all copyright
notices and give to any other recipients of this program a
copy of this statement as well as the following warranty
disclaimer.

SUPER-MEMO WORLD disclaims all warranties as to this software,
whether expressed or implied, including, but not limited to,
any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a
particular purpose, functionality, data integrity or
protection. SuperMemo World will not be liable for any
special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages
due to loss of data or any other reason.
The entire risk as to the quality and performance
of the program is with you. In no event will SUPER-MEMO WORLD
or any other party who may redistribute this software be liable
to you for damages arising out of the use or inability to use
(including but not limited to loss of data or data being
rendered inaccurate) the program.



All rights reserved. SuperMemo World,  1991
===========================================================================