Why is 3 random words as a password better than a load of random characters?
In: 52
Because of this:
Let’s say X and Y are two numbers, where X is greater than Y.
Most of the time, X^Y is smaller than Y^X, as in these examples:
5^2 = 10, 2^5 = 32
10^2 = 100. 2^100 ~= 1267650600000000000000000000000 (ish)
So imagine taking an 8 character password from an alphabet of, say, 80 characters (26 lowercase letters + 26 uppercase letters + 10 digits + about 14 punctiation marks).
That’s 80^8 combinations.
But imagine taking only a 3 character password, but from an alphabet with 50,000 letters in it.
That’s 3^50 combinations.
It turns out that 3^50 is waaay bigger than 80^8 is. By a LOT.
And when you think of it, if you take a person with a 50,000 word English vocabulary, and ask them to cram 3 English words together, that’s essentially what you’re doing. 3 “letters” where each “letter” is taken from an “alphabet” of 50,000.
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