Sociopath Community

I'll tell you one truth and no lie.

You are an idiot for sharing specific details about your person.

Well the first one can't be the lie if the second one kinda includes it too... Come to think of it, all three are far fetched. Third one just moreso than the other 2.

You're an idiot for coming to the conclusion that I have shared specific truths about myself. It's a logic puzzle, with a dash of social engineering.

by circinus

I have a PhD in math.

What was the subject of your dissertation?

I use this very successfully at a well-known hedge fund.

Which one?

by circinus

My memory is not eidetic, but I can remember strings of numbers up to 9,000 digits upon reading them once.

This statement is of the form: "This part is true, but this part is false." Therefore the whole statement is false. This statement is the lie and the first 2 are the truths.

My dissertation was on the topic of nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equations. More specifically, computational solutions to the Einstein equations for strongly coupled, gravitationally radiating systems.

That work relied heavily on Fourier analysis, which led naturally to looking at stock market fluctuations over extremely short timescales. I've also been involved with developing pricing models for derivatives, which uses many of the same mathematical techniques that analytically exploring a large parameter space in GR does. Oh, and unfortunately I can't tell you the name of the fund, as that would both compromise anonymity and breach my contract.

Actually, it's not so difficult to remember large number strings (or other types of data). Almost anyone could do it, provided they put in the requisite effort to create a system for it.

Damaged, you're great fun! I was going to give up the answer, but I guess I'll wait a little longer. 

You must be quite familiar with Cauchy then. Are you a high frequency quant?

Cauchy is in fact part of my academic family tree (which tracks advisor-student chains throughout the generations, in case you're not familiar). But aside from that, of course I am familiar. Where would math today be without Cauchy? I'm not one of the high-frequency traders on the floor, but as you guessed I write codes that do automated trades at high frequencies.

Alright, I'll put it to rest. The lie was that I'd tell two truths and a lie. In fact, the only truth was that I can memorize 9,000 digit strings after reading them once. The trick is relatively simple: each sequence of three numbers is converted to a unique image. Each image is, in turn, stored in a specific mental location in what is commonly referred to as a memory palace. I can put three images to each 'peg' in the memory palace, corresponding to a nine-digit sequence. The mental map I use for recalling numbers has 1,000 pegs. Therefore, I can remember 9,000 numbers. I could extend it by either making more pegs or creating unique images for four-digit strings, but as you can imagine that requires quite a bit more legwork to set up. There are, however, numerous other methods that people use to perform such feats.

Useless, you say? Then you should try imagining how many bar bets you could win in this fashion.