# trial and error and error

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trial-and-error-and-error/209718>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 26, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trial-and-error-and-error/209718 "2003-10-26T21:37:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![singstimme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@singstimme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singstimme)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trial-and-error-and-error/209718/1 "2003-10-26T21:37:52Z")

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more so in actual hand-writing than typing, but sometimes when i realize that i wrote down a wrong set of numbers in an equation and attempt to erase and fix it, i keep writing down that wrong set of numbers repeatedly and perhaps subconscioulsly. Is it jus my pure stupidity or is there any neurological/psychological explanation for this?

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trial-and-error-and-error/209718/2 "2003-10-27T13:08:47Z")

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I don’t have an answer for you, **singstimme,** but welcome to the board.

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**Author:** ![T.Mehr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@T.Mehr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Mehr)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trial-and-error-and-error/209718/3 "2003-10-27T13:15:39Z")

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No clue either, but it has happened to me, too.  
I hope ther is a neurological/psychological explanation for it, otherwise we have to accept ‘pure stupidity’ as the answer…

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**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trial-and-error-and-error/209718/4 "2003-10-27T13:32:07Z")

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Hmm. Do the numbers remind you of your mother?

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**Author:** ![singstimme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@singstimme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singstimme)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trial-and-error-and-error/209718/5 "2003-10-28T01:25:04Z")

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I am perfectly willing to accept my gift of pure stupidity. But it’s just the fact that I am aware and conscious of the mistake that I am making while it is still in its process that make me think that there has to be sometihng neurological that causes a delay in the processing of the perceptual input.