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Comment by bjonathan | Hacker News Reader

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bjonathan·

70 => 11235813

I am curious is there a particular reason behind the fact that 70 people choosed that number for their password?

This number seems completely random to me so I dont understand the how and the why.

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Not sure if you were being sarcastic, but those are the beginning terms of the Fibonacci sequence[1], without the leading zero.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_sequence

My favourite thing about this is how those 70 users must have been feeling quite smug and superior about how they chose their password, without realising 69 others had done exactly the same thing.

It's like the people who think they're displaying their above-average understanding of probability by choosing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 for their lottery numbers. It will be a very happy then a very sad day for a lot of people if those numbers ever hit!

A little anecdote about feeling smug and superior: During that facebook meme last week where everyone was posting numbers and replying with a comment about whichever friend sent them said number, a friend posted the sequence. I called it out for what it was, and he replies "I figured of all people it'd be you who would catch that".

I felt pretty good after that. Why I can't tell you but I did.

Thank you both for your answers! I wasnt being sarcastic at all, my poor brain didn't seem prepare to spot a Fibonacci sequence in a list of "Top Gawker passwords" .

There's a leading zero in the Fibonacci sequence? I thought it started 1,1,2

It depends on who you ask; many people agree with you but others say it starts 0, 1.

Yes, the two initial values in the sequence are 0 and 1.

Hint: Look at 1,1,2,3,5,8,13 as a sequence.

If you still don't know, try searching for it on this wonderful resource: http://oeis.org/

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