782 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the limits of the guesses, one figure would occur about as often as an- 

 other in units' or tens' place. It was argued, therefore, that any 

 marked or persistent variation from such regularity in such a great 

 number of cases would reveal what might be termed an unconscious 

 preference for such numbers or digits for these places. 



The purpose of this study, then, was to determine whether or not 

 there existed in the popular mind, under the conditions offered, any 

 such preferences. 



After the very arduous and tedious task of collating and classify- 

 ing all the guesses for men and women separately had been done, the 

 following facts appeared : 



In the first place, marked preference is shown for certain digits 

 both for units' and tens' places. This statement is based on a study of 

 the 6,8 G 3 guesses falling below one thousand. Of these, 4,238 were 

 made by men and 2,625 were made by women. By tabulations of 

 the digits used in units' place by both men and women, the following 

 facts have been determined: 800 used 9, while but 374 used 8; 1,070 

 used 7, and 443 preferred 6; 881 used 5, and only 295 preferred 4; 

 862 chose 3, while 331 used 2; 577 ended with 1, while 1,230 pre- 

 ferred as the last figure. 



A tabulation of the figures used in tens' place shows, save in the 

 case of 2 and 3, where 2 is used oftener than 3, the same curious 

 preferences, but in a much less marked degree. To go into detail, 

 850 chose 9 for tens' place, while 559 took 8; 907 used 7, while 

 only 637 selected 6; 748 took 5, while only 536 used 4; 601 used 

 3, and 634 chose 2; 728 used 1, as against 872 who used 0. 



Were it not that the selections here in the main correspond with 

 the preferences shown in units' place, the significance of these figures 

 would be much less important; but the evidence here can not 

 wholly be ignored when taken in connection with the facts ob- 

 tained in the preferences shown in the case of the figures occupying 

 units' place. 



We are enabled, then, as a result of the study of these guesses, 

 to say that under the conditions offered, aside from a preference of 

 over 1 to end the numbers selected, digits representing odd num- 

 bers are conspicuously preferred to those representing even numbers. 

 How far this will hold under other conditions can not now be stated, 

 but the facts here observed are of such a nature as to suggest the pos- 

 sibility of an habitual tendency in this direction. However, further 

 investigations can alone determine whether or not this bias for cer- 

 tain numbers is potent in a general way. 



The curve on the next page, exhibiting the results noted above, 

 shows at a glance the marked and persistent preference for the odd 

 numbers. 



