Yeh, I hear ya. That’s why I used the word “formulated” rather than “discovered” —- because he really did the work to not just model it, but really implement a system with a very specific formula which he devised and which was the basis of the field we see today.
https://www.supermemo.com/en/archives1990-2015/articles/20ru...
...by the creator of supermemo who basically formulated the whole idea.
In Point 1 he explains you shouldn’t use spaced repetition to learn. Use it to remember.
In Point 10 he covers how to remember “enumerations” (with an alphabet example)
You have to go back to the classics when you want to do something properly.