Why weren't you around in middle school?

Jason • 1st Aug 2006 • General

Lifehacker posted a very helpful hint for remembering your padlock combination:

There’s an easy way to always remember your lock combos: simply remember when your birthday is.

All you need is a Sharpie and a bit of second grade math in order to accomplish this miraculous-seeming feat. Here’s an example: say your birthday is:

10 / 13 / 77

and your lock combination is:

19 / 22 / 41

you would write with your Sharpie on the back of the lock this code:

29/ 35 / 118 (which is from 10+19 / 13+22 / 77+41).

In order to recover the combination, this is what you’re looking at:

(29-10=19 / 35-13=22 / 118-77=41)

If I only had this tip when I was young! That darn padlock combination was the source of many sleepless nights and frantic days during grade school…