MetaChat - Now I'm curious, what's his PIN?

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26 February 2008

Now I'm curious, what's his PIN?

post by: matteo at: 15:51 | 14 comments

What a silly reason to leave.

posted by dabitch 26 February | 15:57

well, being unable to take any money from the ATM when you're in China (judging by this guy's past questions) would piss me off, too.

but, really, now I'm curious.

posted by matteo 26 February | 16:02

The whole thing kinda sounded like a GRE logic problem or a scavenger hunt puzzle that he needed help with.

I just don't get how you could not know your PIN.

posted by Miko 26 February | 16:04

I was frustrated by the phrasing of his question because he mentioned that the pattern contained no chess moves, but going from 2 to 7 or 7 to 2 is a knight's move and he didn't seem to rule out that sequence from his musings.

Also, several other sequences contained queen or rook moves, but there were other numbers in between so I guess he wasn't counting those.

I thought it was a cool question. At first I thought he was messing with us but apparently not.

a visual aid:

≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by iconomy 26 February | 16:05

Miko, I did think that maybe it was some guy who spied on someone else keying in their pin, and somehow he got hold of the bank card, and couldn't remember the exact sequence.

I'm a real pollyanna and it never occurs to me to suspect anyone of anything until someone else points it out. And then I'm all AHA! You ratfink!

posted by iconomy 26 February | 16:12

Yeah, I was intrigued by the puzzle aspect of the question, too. I don't think there's a solution in 3 moves with the information given. If there is, I'd love to know how someone arrived at it.

posted by BitterOldPunk 26 February | 16:53

I just don't get how you could not know your PIN.

I don't know my PIN, but that's because I haven't used my debit card in over 2 years.

posted by sperose 26 February | 16:57

I just don't get how you could not know your PIN.

On two separate occasions I have had a password/PIN spontaneously leave both brain and muscle memory. Both came about when I was extremely sleep deprived, and both eventually came back (although in one case it was only after the ATM had swallowed my card).

posted by Lentrohamsanin 26 February | 16:59

both both both both both both both

posted by Lentrohamsanin 26 February | 17:01

I had a memory lapse once where I just couldn't remember my PIN, to the point that I locked myself out of the card and had to change it. Then the next time I tried to enter my new pin in, I entered the old one via "muscle memory."

posted by drezdn 26 February | 17:21

Seemed like an interesting puzzle to me and lateral thinking led to some useful answers. Sometimes people just don't know the right question to ask.

posted by Skwirl 26 February | 17:31

God, that whole damn thing was weird. And I dig logic puzzles too, but wtf.

posted by cortex 26 February | 18:25

That reminds me - I found my credit card on the sidewalk in an airport, but it doesn't look like it's got my signature on the back. Apart from going to the bank that issued it, how can I fix this? I'm trying to do myself a solid here; let's also assume the 3 digit security code on the back is perfectly okay.

posted by Smart Dalek 26 February | 19:58

...somehow he got hold of the bank card

I'm pretty sure he robbed the cardholder at coconutgun-point.

posted by taz 26 February | 22:30

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