# Least likely to be tried 3 digit combination? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 8, 2017, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127 "2017-05-08T13:43:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/21 "2017-05-08T19:16:21Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > I seriously doubt a single thief ever bothers with trying to guess the combination. They just look at the lock, and if they have bolt cutters, they cut it. If not, they leave it alone and move on to an easier target. > > Nor do thieves try to guess passwords. They call up a help line instead and will try to pretend to be you and get the password reset. Or they stick a keystroke logging device on your keyboard so they will know whatever it is that you typed. Couldn’t agree more. An acquaintance of mine, and known thief, use to say me: “locks are to keep honest people honest; a thief will get what they want.” I’d say that has proven to be true in my lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/22 "2017-05-08T19:24:18Z")
Unfortunately, finding stats on something comparable seems to be difficult. I did manage to find a list of the least and most popular [4-digit PIN](http://lifehacker.com/5944567/the-most-and-least-common-pin-numbers-and-numeric-passwords-is-yours-one-of-them) codes. Some of the popularity of those numbers will also be affected by the layout of the keypad, of course. But, as a side question, I’m curious about one thing: Looking at the top 20, they all more-or-less make sense to me: repeating or sequential digits, pretty much (and maybe years in 2000 and 2001?) But the sixth most popular code is “1004”. What’s up with that number? ETA: And, at a quick glance, it seems to me the least-used PINs tend to have 7, 8,9, and or 0s in them, so maybe we can use that info in helping suss out an unlikely 3-digit combo. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/23 "2017-05-08T20:04:24Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > But, as a side question, I’m curious about one thing: Looking at the top 20, they all more-or-less make sense to me: repeating or sequential digits, pretty much (and maybe years in 2000 and 2001?) But the sixth most popular code is “1004”. What’s up with that number? > > ETA: And, at a quick glance, it seems to me the least-used PINs tend to have 7, 8,9, and or 0s in them, so maybe we can use that info in helping suss out an unlikely 3-digit combo. 1234 1004 That’s why. I think it’s easy to fill with zeroes because Sesame Street taught me to count starting with 1. Which, come to think of it, was a disserve on behalf of the Big Bird. ---
**Author:** ![TheSeaOtter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@TheSeaOtter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSeaOtter)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/24 "2017-05-08T20:45:41Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > I seriously doubt a single thief ever bothers with trying to guess the combination. They just look at the lock, and if they have bolt cutters, they cut it. If not, they leave it alone and move on to an easier target. > > Nor do thieves try to guess passwords. They call up a help line instead and will try to pretend to be you and get the password reset. Or they stick a keystroke logging device on your keyboard so they will know whatever it is that you typed. Thieves try to guess passwords all the time. Yes, tactics like you describe are used - especially when trying to compromise a specific individual or organization, but the majority of people trying to steal your identity or whatever aren’t targeting you specifically. Rather, they’ve just got a huge database of access credentials (and encrypted passwords) and try to crack as many of them as possible. Depending on how the system is set up, it can be much easier to crack the ones with weak passwords. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/25 "2017-05-08T20:54:31Z")
If there were a known least likely combination, it wouldn’t be least likely for long. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/26 "2017-05-09T11:59:55Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > If there were a known least likely combination, it wouldn’t be least likely for long. A. There isn’t so much “a” least likely combination, but a whole lot of ones statistically the same in likelihood. B. Most people are idiots when it comes to making such choices. Very few are like the OP and care about making an unlikely choice. So unlikely ones are going to stay unlikely. (With exceptions when a magic number gets used in a popular movie or something and people start using it.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/27 "2017-05-09T13:01:56Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > I imagine a fair number of people use calendar dates (birthdays, anniversaries etc). And if they do, the 2nd number must be 0, 1, 2 or 3. And of those, 0-2 are much more likely than 3. I’m curious what you mean by the “second number”. In MMDD or DDMM format the second digit could be any of 0-9. Albeit not with the same likelihood. Ditto for YYMM. Agree that whichever digit is the left half of the day value will be 0-3. I’m just not seeing how that ends up being the “second number” in any common notation. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/28 "2017-05-09T13:14:36Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’m curious what you mean by the “second number”. > > In MMDD or DDMM format the second digit could be any of 0-9. Albeit not with the same likelihood. Ditto for YYMM. > > Agree that whichever digit is the left half of the day value will be 0-3. I’m just not seeing how that ends up being the “second number” in any common notation. Since the OP was about three digit combinations, I assume that **scr4** was thinking of a MDD notation–which can’t encode dates for 3 months of the year. (Well, perhaps 2 months if you assign a month 0 somehow.) ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/29 "2017-05-09T13:21:59Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > But, as a side question, I’m curious about one thing: Looking at the top 20, they all more-or-less make sense to me: repeating or sequential digits, pretty much (and maybe years in 2000 and 2001?) But the sixth most popular code is “1004”. What’s up with that number? > . Cool link! Your question is actually answered in the original article LifeHacker linked to at [PIN number analysis](http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/september32012/index.html) > [@](#): > > Many people also asked the significance of 1004 in the four character PIN table. This comes from Korean speakers. When spoken, “1004” is cheonsa (cheon = 1000, sa=4). > > “Cheonsa” also happens to be the Korean word for Angel. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/30 "2017-05-09T13:40:20Z")
1-2-3-4? That’s like something some idiot would have on their luggage! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/31 "2017-05-09T13:55:30Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > If you really want to be clever, look at a phone, and avoid numbers that spell any word that might be meaningful for you. You know, avoid 262 if your name is Bob, or it’s well known that you are a huge fan of Bob Newhart. > > Personally, I’d pick 666. People are really superstitious, and think that other people are equally superstitious, and would avoid that number. Also, easy to remember. Funny enough, I was coming here to suggest not trying 666. I’ve seen passwords/combos where it was used way to much. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/32 "2017-05-09T14:33:59Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > Cool link! > > Your question is actually answered in the original article LifeHacker linked to at [PIN number analysis](http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/september32012/index.html) Ah! Well, there you go. I did google the number, but only saw an Urban Dictionary reference to it, so I wasn’t sure how widespread it was. That makes more sense to me than the 1234 - 1004 explanation (which I really didn’t follow the logic of.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/33 "2017-05-09T14:40:09Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > Your question is actually answered in the original article LifeHacker linked to at [PIN number analysis](http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/september32012/index.html) I hereby acknowledge that I understood your explanation, my friend. Or, if you prefer: _“That’s a 10-04, good buddy.”_ ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/34 "2017-05-09T14:43:14Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I hereby acknowledge that I understood your explanation, my friend. > > Or, if you prefer: _“That’s a 10-04, good buddy.”_ I’ve never heard anyone say or think of it as 10-04, but perhaps enough do, plus with the ones who use 1004 as a lucky Korean number, plus maybe some who follow that 1234-1004 logic I don’t understand, that it all adds up to the #6 most popular PIN. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/35 "2017-05-09T16:27:49Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > Since the OP was about three digit combinations, I assume that **scr4** was thinking of a MDD notation–which can’t encode dates for 3 months of the year. (Well, perhaps 2 months if you assign a month 0 somehow.) Actually, you could code any date. October 7 could be 007 (elide the first digit) or 107 (drop the unneeded digit of the day.) After all, the idea is that you remember the date (for some significance to you) and then code it into three digits. The fact that “118” might come from either January 18 OR November 18 OR November 8 OR even April 28th (in non-Leap Years) doesn’t matter since you’re not using your padlock to remind you of your birthday or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/36 "2017-05-09T19:02:34Z")
Actually, the least tried 3-digit combination is always the one I’m trying to remember at the time. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/37 "2017-05-09T20:38:09Z")
If there was one particular number least likely to be tried, people would start trying it. This is similar to the [interesting number paradox.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interesting_number_paradox) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127/38 "2017-05-09T21:47:47Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > If there was one particular number least likely to be tried, people would start trying it. > > This is similar to the [interesting number paradox.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interesting_number_paradox) I already refuted this [upthread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20193591&postcount=26). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-to-be-tried-3-digit-combination/786127.md?page=1)