Which number is the "most random"?

[pne]

Please fill out the poll first, then read the link if you want.

[Poll #961998]

Is there a "most random" number?

See also this old Dilbert comic, this episode of the xkcd web comic (make sure to see the alt text/title, too, e.g. by hovering your mouse over the image) and this entry in Bruce Schneier's blog.

Comments

[purple-pen.livejournal.com]

Interesting...

Do feel free to screen my comment if you fear it will skew your results, but I just thought I'd explain that I thought of 19 first, then thought "That isn't very random - it's almost 20. I'll pick 17 instead", and then further thought, "No, I should be true to my first instinct, otherwise that's not being random." So I did vote for 19, but was tempted towards 17 in a conscious attempt to be 'more' random.

[elgrande.livejournal.com]

I intentionally chose 1 because I once heard that when people are supposed to pick a number between say 1 and 20, they will rarely pick the "extremes" 1 and 20, even though there isn't actually a reason for not doing so. So, I consciously tried to avoid that effect.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know about the validity of the reason, but I distinctly remember being taught in second or third grade (I had the same teacher for both) that "between 1 and 20" implies you can't choose 1 or 20, whereas "from 1 to 20" or "between 1 and 20, inclusive" means you can.

Personally I always pick the same number when people ask me for one.

[spodlife]

Unfortunately I have just read the article linked from somewhere else. Therefore I picked blank as my answer so as not to disturb your experiment. Do post again in a few days with the result!

[opal1159.livejournal.com]

I already know about this too, but Andy picked 17. O.o And also as the article states, 7 for 1-10 and 3 for 1-4. I remember in elementary school, a teacher did 1-4 in the class, and I was the only person who picked 2.

[bluewingedcat.livejournal.com]

Being a gamer, I know the fickleness of the legendary d20. You botch a lot for some reason... but you rarely get that nat 20.

[denial-land.livejournal.com]

I picked 16 because my mouse was already right there when it expanded the drop down menu. Given that 17 is right there as well, maybe that's a variable that's not completely insignificant-- people might just be lazy? (Granted, I didn't read about the exact setup of the original experiment)

[vampwillow]

I made the full drop-down appear, showing all 20 options, then just moved the mouse until I clicked without looking on the specific number ...

[camomiletea.livejournal.com]

Interesting result. To get a random number I closed my eyes and clicked with a mouse not looking. The first number I got was 7, but I didn't pick it because it "too obvious" :p So the next time I got 14.

[tungol.livejournal.com]

The first thing that came to mind was my favourite number. Then I looked them all over, thought of choosing 17, but then remembered having seen the sort of thing you linked to, and decided to go with my first thought.

[tamar.livejournal.com]

I picked 5. Not sure why. Though I believe I usually pick odd numbers, when asked.

[eva]

Quite interesting. Instinctively, I'd have gone with 17, too, but then I made a conscious decision for 14.

[tungol.livejournal.com]

Interesting that 7 is coming in second.

[(Anonymous)]

Impressive replication of our survey! You matched not only our first-place result (17) but also the second place (7). The percent responding "17" was almost identical to our result.

Dave Munger, Cognitive Daily