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all 54 comments

[–]MahoganyForestShares Results[S] 148 points149 points  (14 children)

In the end we had 1380 responses!
For the numbers, 69 was the most picked by far which is to be expected on Reddit.
37 was 2nd which isn't surprising as it is generally considered to be the most picked number from 1-100 when people are trying to be random. Another noticeable pattern is numbers ending in 7 appear closer to the top while multiples of 5 are closer to the bottom.
More people picked 2 than 1 and similarly more people picked 99 than 100.

For the letters, there was a very clear favourite of J while 2nd place was A. A noticeable pattern is that a lot of the later letters in the alphabet were picked less and unlike with the numbers, there were less people going for B and Y over A and Z.

Thanks to everyone who sumitted a response as I would definitely not have expected this much feedback which gives us a pretty good sample size :D

[–]CoyoteTheFatal 47 points48 points  (10 children)

Any theories on why J was such a favorite?

[–]Inn_Tents 80 points81 points  (1 child)

On mobile J appeared at the bottom of the list without having to scroll. That’s why I picked it.

[–]CoyoteTheFatal 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Oooooh. Makes sense

[–]fuyukihana 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Could have to do with why seven was such a favorite. Primes, numbers with high "detail" that are a little grittier to multiply or divide are seen as more random. Consonants that appear randomly in language may be seen as less common, also the propensity for it to be pronounced a bit differently without it being common like a vowel contributes to it's general roughness and therefore appearance in people's idea of random and inconsistent.

[–][deleted] 11 points12 points  (6 children)

My name starts with J

[–]always_the_blue_pill 2 points3 points  (5 children)

Johnson ? Jonathan ? Jade ?

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Jordan

[–]damatovg7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So close

[–]musicaldigger 1 point2 points  (2 children)

who the heck is named “Johnson”

[–]FrankRandomLetters 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Johnson

[–]TIlIlII 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Richard

[–]--____--____--____ 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Can you share the raw data? I'd like to see how many people chose the same letter and number. Also it'd be cool to see a heat map of the graph of letter x number.

[–]MahoganyForestShares Results[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not sure how to do a heat map, sorry, but I've put the raw data on a google sheets for you here :D

[–]omega_weapon85 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Neat! Thanks!

[–]_ironic_username 29 points30 points  (8 children)

Crazy how many people chose 37! I picked it because it was just a random number I thought I didn't see super often. Turns out I'm unoriginal.

[–][deleted] 32 points33 points  (2 children)

I think it’s because numbers using 0’s or 5’s seem “less random” so people tend to pick numbers in the middle containing 3’s and 7’s.

[–]MahoganyForestShares Results[S] 26 points27 points  (1 child)

This is definitely part of it. When people pick random numbers they look for things without patterns which is why even numbers and multiples of 5 are less picked. Similarly 1 and 9 are close to the ends so might seem less random which narrows it down to 3 and 7

[–]Jaxom_of_Ruatha 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is why when you buy a lottery ticket you should always get a computer-picked number. You aren't any more likely to win, but if you do win, you are less likely to be splitting the jackpot with a lot of people. Humans are bad at picking random numbers and tend to clump together.

[–]Jack_Vermicelli 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I picked it because it was just a random number

If you picked it, it was by definition not random.

[–]_ironic_username 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very true! I thought "be random" but still selected 37 based on its randomness. Classic thought pattern!

[–]ChaojidageShares Results 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's surprisingly common in conversation, from my experience! People often say things like "I had 37 tasks to do yesterday" to mean that they have a lot to do. It's a psychologically random number. By usage frequency, 37 totally qualifies as an idiom; it's probably used more often than "common" idioms like "it's raining cats and dogs."

[–]CrimJim 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I would have assumed people chose it because it's a well known Clerks Reference

[–]_ironic_username 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha that was hilarious! It’ll now be why I choose 37.

[–]losercore 13 points14 points  (3 children)

Nice!

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Still sad people didn't go with F and 69.

My day is ruined and my disappointment is immeasurable

[–]mki_ 6 points7 points  (4 children)

Nice.

[–]torpedomon 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This may be a new record for most accurate measurement of the most useless information ever. And that is saying a lot for Reddit! Upvote!!!

[–]gulagholidaycamps 3 points4 points  (2 children)

Nice

[–]NedWretched 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice

[–]Fluffiddy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

69 and D gang rise up

[–]Wiener_Kraut 1 point2 points  (0 children)

61 T reporting in

[–]justdowntheroad 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I chose M and 13 because it's the 13th letter in the alphabet. I'd be interested in seeing common combinations of numbers and letters.

[–]robertmdesmond 1 point2 points  (3 children)

69 is due to semantic overload. But why 37?

[–]skylarmt 1 point2 points  (1 child)

And why not 42? It's always the answer.

[–]robertmdesmond 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's the answer to life, the universe and everything

[–]MahoganyForestShares Results[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There’s lots of reasons and it’s been talked about a bit in other comments on this thread, but this quora article has a simple answer (https://www.quora.com/Why-is-37-the-most-common-choice-when-people-are-asked-to-choose-a-random-number) and I’m sure there are more in-depth answers into your question online. :D

[–]Mr_Purple_Cat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Never change, Reddit.

[–]lizardlan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice

[–]KingAdamXVII 0 points1 point  (3 children)

H is the coolest letter because it’s the hardest to spell phonetically.

The best I can come up with is aitch or aytch, but I would probably pronounce those with a long I vowel sound instead of a long A.

The second hardest letter to spell is what, E? But look: “ee”. All the other letters are trivial.

[–]MiskatonicMD 1 point2 points  (2 children)

aech

[–]TIlIlII 0 points1 point  (1 child)

That says ake

[–]MiskatonicMD 0 points1 point  (0 children)

aetʃ

>:v

[–]mehnameizbreno 0 points1 point  (0 children)

still goin

[–]mlaxgsp79 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Nice