# How to calculate lock combinations

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-calculate-lock-combinations/753491>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 30, 2016, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-calculate-lock-combinations/753491 "2016-04-30T12:01:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 8

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**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-calculate-lock-combinations/753491/8 "2016-04-30T14:53:41Z")

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The comment in my thread:

> [@Simple Maths Question](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-maths-question/668836/12):
>
> I dunno…this seems like a stupid system to me. Each key, only once, and any order? A thief could probably just look at the keypad and see which keys either: a) show signs of wear or b) have grease/oil on them. Just a little talc and it should be fairly trivial to figure out which keys are being punched in.

is irrelevant because the keypad is used only rarely. In over two years, mine has been used exactly twice…

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