My bank has given me a new PIN, advising me that I can change the number for one that is 鈥渕ore memorable鈥�. Anything I chose, say based on my birthday, would surely be easier for a fraudster to discover. Should I keep the randomly generated PIN?
Brian Pollard,听Launceston, Cornwall, UK
I received a random PIN many years ago, and realised it was an easily memorable scientific constant plus another number. Another random PIN was a well-known date plus a palindromic number. Maybe I was lucky, but I would suggest a two-part scheme for reconstructing a PIN might be a solution that works for you.
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Hillary Judd,听Exeter, Devon, UK
Don鈥檛 confuse 鈥渕emorable鈥� with 鈥渙bvious鈥�. For 4-digit PINs, dates from history can be good. 1066, the most memorable in English history, may be too obvious, but there are other less well known ones that could be memorable but not obvious. Another source of possible PIN numbers comes from combining two atomic weights: those of sodium and chlorine in sodium chloride give you 2335, for example. Anything that you find interesting and memorable that isn鈥檛 personal will do it.
Spencer Weart,听Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, US
Randomness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. If the PIN your bank assigned happens to be your birthday or phone number, you鈥檇 better fire up a random number generator and make a new one.
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