Our brains are pretty clever things. They take a whole load of stuff from a variety of sources and try to make sense of it all.
But brains do like simple things. They look for patterns. They love easy numbers.
Here’s an example you can try. You have just 10 seconds to look at these thirteen cards and remember them:
It’s quite simple, because they form a pattern. All the hearts right?
If I asked you tomorrow, you would still remember them. Even if one of them is actually a diamond.
There are plenty of people who can learn multiple packs of cards in order in a very short time. There are some very clever techniques to help.
Try again. Ten seconds then close your eyes and remember these, in order:
Definitely not so easy. And did you spot there are only twelve, not even thirteen?
So if I say one number divided by another is exactly 60, you’ll think that is somewhat significant, and remember it. If I said it was 60.33589703343274 you wouldn’t.