Is a 30-Letter Password Really Necessary?

[humanino]

My earlier point was the following : when I perform calculations, I have never been able to trust results after the 10th digit. We all work with finite accuracy machines and measurements anyway. So memorizing pi is just a game. Is it not funnier to memorize jokes, or novels, or ... more useful information ?

 

[MotolovCocktail]

My, my. Just because I know 120 digits of pi you automatically assume that I have no life. I don't spend a large amount of my time memorizing digits of pi.

I don't have any idea how your brains work, but for me, it does not take me a long time to memorize a large amount of information. It took me about 30 seconds to memorize the first 40 or so digits, and that was because I was bored one day. The rest of the 120 digits came over time.

And another thing is that I never forget. I can remember all the specific details about anything I have seen or done, even if several years have passed from that point in time.

And besides, why don't you want to be able to memorize hundreds of digits. Being able to memorize large amounts of data is a very useful skill, and one that I employ for the task of defending my computer systems from hackers and other malicious software. My security passwords for my computer are between 25-30 digits long (and no, it isn't digits of pi so don't even think about it), let's see if a hacker can get through that!

 

[dontdisturbmycircles]

Hey no, don't get me wrong. I definitely can't judge you on your first post and say you have no life...

No, unfortunately. In fact, even the math geeks in my class were unenthusiastic about it (probably because of social pressure ). But, even if we did at my school, I would have still owned them. Most people don't remember past 3.14, and most of the so-called math-wiz's in my school know only about 20 digits or so.

I was simply responding to this. You seem to think that the math 'geeks' should know pi to 20 digits and the fact that you do and they don't means something. Memorizing pi doesn't mean you have no life in my book, maybe you enjoy a challenge. But if you came up to me and said "what do you mean you don't have the first ten phone numbers in the phone book memorized, aren't you supposed to be good at math?" I'd laugh at you. Memorizing pi isn't math, . (I wouldn't call myself a math geek at all, but I am just trying to suggest a point).

Anyways, yea. Happy 'pi day' regardless :-)

PS - 30 digit passwords? Doesn't it look kinda funny when it takes you 10 seconds to type in your password? lol :)

 

[neutrino]

What's wrong with e? Why don't more people memorise the digits of e? Motolov, I think it's up to you, then.

 

[d_leet]

What's wrong with e? Why don't more people memorise the digits of e? Motolov, I think it's up to you, then.

I've pondered this as well, and at that I think the world record for memorizing digits of e is only about 700 or so digits which is rather pathetic compared to how many digits of pi people memorize.

 

[dontdisturbmycircles]

That is a good question. Maybe it has to do with how pi is introduced to much younger students? I have a feeling that a vast majority of people are familiar with pi (maybe just knowing that it has to do with the circle) whereas e is much more abstract in that it can't be tied to something that most people are familiar with, such as is the case with the circle. Whats the point in memorizing numbers if no one is going to understand what you are talking about.

 

[Gib Z]

Instead of memorizing digits of pi, why don't you just become very very good at arithmetic and work out the digits in your head :P?

BTW MeJennifer is alsolutely correct, The Borwein-Plouffe Algorithm would be quite helpful for this kind of purpose, even if you have to change bases >.<...

 

[SizarieldoR]

Is there a φ (phi) day?
I hope there is, because φ is my favourite number! :-)

 

[radou]

What's wrong with e? Why don't more people memorise the digits of e?

I agree! What's with e? You're going down, pi-fascists!

Btw, the whole pi-thing is always made voodoo, which is quite annoying.

 

[MotolovCocktail]

Hey no, don't get me wrong. I definitely can't judge you on your first post and say you have no life...



I was simply responding to this. You seem to think that the math 'geeks' should know pi to 20 digits and the fact that you do and they don't means something. Memorizing pi doesn't mean you have no life in my book, maybe you enjoy a challenge. But if you came up to me and said "what do you mean you don't have the first ten phone numbers in the phone book memorized, aren't you supposed to be good at math?" I'd laugh at you. Memorizing pi isn't math, . (I wouldn't call myself a math geek at all, but I am just trying to suggest a point).

Anyways, yea. Happy 'pi day' regardless :-)

PS - 30 digit passwords? Doesn't it look kinda funny when it takes you 10 seconds to type in your password? lol :)

All right, all right, I'm sorry if I acted a bit rash. I just take great pride in my abilities, that's all. And I know memorizing digits of pi isn't necessarily math, but it does help in that department. And about much earlier, I didn't mean for that comment to come out the way it did. I was just trying to answer his question and I let some of my ego show through (I'm also very good at math myself). I'm sorry if it offended anyone.

As for the 30 digit passwords, yeah, I do get some funny looks every now and then. And then sometimes I do get greeted with awe. But, what can I say, it is one of the strength's of being somewhat of an "autistic savant" if you know what I mean.



About e, I actually don't know any digits of that. To be honest, I find e quite annoying since I don't like logarithms in general. As for the popularity of pi, I would have to say it is due to the fact that it is the most common one that the general public has to deal with, as well as being one of the oldest ratios discovered. I do know some digits of the golden ratio (i.e. 1.618033988...) though. I do wonder why there isn't a day for that though, its been around since the time of the ancient Egyptians.

 

[radou]

About e, I actually don't know any digits of that. To be honest, I find e quite annoying since I don't like logarithms in general.

I never understood what's there "not to be liked" about logarithms. I'm pointing this out, since you're definitely not the first person I heard saying that. Quite interesting.

 

[MeJennifer]

Using passwords that are 30 digit long to defend against hackers is definitively overkill and borders on compulsive obsessive behaviour.

 

[MotolovCocktail]

It might be overkill, but I know for certain that my computer is secure :) .

 

[dontdisturbmycircles]

Cool. ;).

I count 60 different characters on a keyboard. Whats 60^{30} lol.Yea I would agree, your password is secure. (assuming you didn't use pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism)

 

[radou]

(assuming you didn't use pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism)

Huh?

 

[dontdisturbmycircles]

Lol, it happens to be the only 30 letter word. :) I assume that most 'brute force' programs would stick to dictionary words since just plain letters/numbers/symbols would cause the possibilities to almost be endless. Although even those programs may not try 30 letter words, haha.

edit: Actually giving this a bit more thought, a brute force type method wouldn't work for any application that I can think of. Since most passwords are for web pages which take lots of time to reload and some limit password retries to some small number. So the only way I can think of for a 'hacker' to gain a password is installing some software on your computer which would log what you type, in which case you are only inconveniencing yourself by having such long pw's. lol