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Comment by billpg | Hacker News Reader

Then it isn't a personal identification number. We should call them PANs, or Personal Authentication Number.

If you'll excuse me, I need to go fight some windmills.

If you want to be pedantic, it really isn't a number at all, it's a string of digits. A lot of "serial numbers" and "material part numbers" are not only not numbers, they're not even all digits.

If we're being pedantic then they ARE numbers, even the ones with letters. They're just not in base10.

Yeh, until your coworker thinks that he should be storing the phone numbers as an int in the database, and the ones in the Pacific northwest keep getting truncated (but only if they include the leading 1).

Numbers might be represented by numerals, but that doesn't mean every string of numerals is a number. If you need to know the difference, ask yourself if you'd ever do math with it, (add to it, subtract from it) if only principle.

Ugh, for anyone reading this, please store your phone numbers as E164. There is no need to re-invent the wheel.

number (noun):

- a figure or group of figures used to identify someone or something (Oxford dictionary)

- a numeral or combination of numerals or other symbols used to identify or designate (Merriam Webster's dictionary)

It identifies your authentication number ;)

So a Personal Authentication Identification Number?

I like that.

P43r, a space-included numeronym[0] pronounced like Paer?

Or just the straight acronym of PAIN?

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeronym

  printf "\n%s\t%s\n\n" $(uname) $SHELL; wrd="$(pbpaste | tr -d '\n')"; printf "%s%s%s\n" "$(echo "$wrd" | sed 's;^\(.\).*$;\1;')" "$(expr $(pbpaste | wc -m | tr -d ' ') - 2)" "$(echo "$wrd" | sed 's;^.*\(.\)$;\1;')"
  
  Darwin /bin/zsh
  
  P43r

So can we call it a 'PAN number'?

Only if we use it to access the ATM machine.

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