The current issue of Mental Floss (http://www.mentalfloss.com/) has an interesting story about the origin of Social Security numbers and what the different parts of the number mean.

According to Mental Floss, the first three digits are assigned based on the zip code where you applied for the number, the second two digits are group numbers and are not assigned sequentially but rather according to a rather complicated sequencing scheme which goes something like, a) odd numbers between 01 and 01 b) even numbers from 10 to 98 c) even numbers from 02 through 08, and d) odd numbers from 11 through 99. The last for digits are simple sequence numbers

The Mental Floss article has an interesting story about accidental misuses of the social security numbers in the early days of the system . . .

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