[b212]

I have wondered about this question too. I study physics, and I have also studied memory techniques, but I have never really seen how they can be
applied to formulas. The only method I know for learning is basically by repetition. Either by solving lots of problems with a particular formula, or if you have to just writing it over an over every day until you can write it without thinking. Also, many formulas can be derived from more fundamental ones, so you have to pick and choose what is worth memorizing.

Regarding the post above using the pythagorean theorem as an example..., thats really too trivial -- i mean I have never seen how to extend that logic to formulas where there isn't an obvious physical picture you can thing of to peg things too, or that there are many forumlas that are of similar form...

a few examples of formulas that really need to memorized (in quantum mechanics, for example), that I can't really see how to effectively apply
memory techniques to:

gaussian integral:
integral[-inf,inf] {(x^2)*exp[-a(x^2)]*dx} = (1/2a)*(sqrt(pi/a))

the multiple representations of the dirac delta fuction:
delta(x)=integral[-inf,inf] {(dw/2pi)*exp[iwx]}
delta(x)=limit(n->inf) {(n/sqrt(2pi))*exp[-(n^2)*(x^2)/2]}
delta(x)=limit(n->inf) {(1/(x*pi))*sin(nx)}