3 ms·
Ask HN: Have you noticed this peculiarity on vending machines?
[advance apologies for the trivial nature of this post. Hope it finds a fit on your Saturday =]
A vending machine at my workplace has a 10 item row with water bottles (all same brand and label) numbered in the range [51-60].
As is customary in current vending machines you select the item by entering a double digit number on a keypad.
When I'm buying water I always select item number 55 (because I find it more convenient to just press the same button twice without looking than typing any of the other options that have 2 different digits).
Surprise, surprise, item 55 is always the first one to sell out on that row. Which means most people also do the same convenience trick as me.
Have you noticed any similar "hidden" patterns like this one?
- pouta 7y agoMy University has the water bottles at the same number range and the first one to be sold out is always 55. I usually pick 51, no idea why.
- throwlaplace 7y agothis pattern is mostly coincidental i think but you might be interested in benford's law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford%27s_law which is an observation about scale invariant quantities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford%27s_law#Scale_invariance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford%27s_law#Scale_invarian...
- superflit 7y agoIn Brazil vote is not a right but "mandatory" -> Quotes mean..double speaking. If you don't vote you have to pay fees, cannot work on the public sector or get a passport. So it is very common for the candidates with number 12345 being elected[1]. Or the ones with 123,111 [2] [3] Even Business companies try to make "easier" for you to remember their number. [1] - https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elei%C3%A7%C3%B5es_distritais_no_Distrito_Federal_em_2018 https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elei%C3%A7%C3%B5es_distritais_... [2] - https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elei%C3%A7%C3%B5es_distritais_no_Distrito_Federal_em_2014 https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elei%C3%A7%C3%B5es_distritais_... [3] - https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elei%C3%A7%C3%B5es_estaduais_no_Rio_Grande_do_Sul_em_2014 https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elei%C3%A7%C3%B5es_estaduais_n...
- maerF0x0 7y agoI'm surprised the candidates are not randomised on the ballots?
- facorreia 7y agoThere are many parties; each party has a double-digit number; candidate numbers start with their party number. You can even just enter the 2 digits to vote on the party's candidate list instead of on individual candidates.
- jasonhansel 7y agoReminds me of: https://www.xkcd.com/1103/ https://www.xkcd.com/1103/
- tanseydavid 7y agoReminds me a little bit of the chapter "Candy Machine Interfaces" from Steve Maguire's book "Writing Solid Code"
- maxrf 7y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudge_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudge_theory