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If you take 6 numbers, and each position can be either a 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, the possible combinations equals 1,000,000.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index...103AA6ajBc
License plates have 3 letters which allow 26 possible combinations, not just 10, so the actual number of possible combinations is quite a lot higher than 1,000,000.
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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I'm not a mathematician but I think the following calculation is correct:
If the first letter is H, the second letter has 26 possible combinations, the third 26, the first number 10, the second 10, and the third number 10 more:
26x26x10x10x10 = 676,000
If as kalakoa says, Big Island currently uses the first letters E, F, G, H, & Z, that gives us 3,380,000 possible unique license plates.
Now if you include all possible first letters as well, which would give the total for the state:
26x26x26x10x10x10 = 17,576,000
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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Whenever I buy a used vehicle here, I get new plates when I get the registration changed over to me. I think it costs $5. I don't want to possibly be associated by the police to the possible crimes of any former owner of the vehicle...
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DMV never uses all 26 letters. Usually at least O and Q are invalid, sometimes I.
24 x 24 x 1000 = 576000 plates per first letter.
5 x 576000 = 2880000 possible plates for the Big Island.
Some states re-use the valid combinations, but only after changing the plate design, in which case the database has an internal "7th character" indicating which design this combination belongs with. Apparently (vague knowledge, really have no idea, guessing it's a Fed DOT thing) it's difficult to add a 7th character (as with California plates).
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Also, commercial plates start with numbers and end with letters, so that's an additional set of unique possible combinations, which doubles the amount previously calculated.
Oh, and vanity plates.
kalakoa, do you think the DOT would issue a vanity plate to a driver who wanted to explain his bad driving to the person behind him:
0 IQ
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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Have two vehicles, both originally registered on Oahu. One license starts with F, the other G which would seem to indicate first letter not island related. More likely has to do with batch lots allocated to each licensing branch.
Rentals are purchased in quantity and licensed simultaneously in batches thus the sequential numbers.
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life is short. enjoy it
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Apparently the (E, F, G) are Oahu imports. I should have known better.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_reg..._of_Hawaii
Coded by county of issuance:
ABC 123, where first letter is A-G, J, N, P, or R-Y; sequence may not include H, K, L, M or Z in any position (City and County of Honolulu)
HAB 123 or ZAB 123 (Hawaiʻi County)
KAB 123 (Kauaʻi County)
MAB 123 or LAB 123 (Maui County)
http://archives.starbulletin.com/content...and_plates
- Letters (H, K, L, M) are never used on Oahu;
- O, I, and Q are not used at all.
This means "only" 529000 plates beginning with H.
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From the Star-Bulletin:
H, K, L and M are reserved for the neighbor island counties, while O, I and Q are not used because they are too similar to the numerals 1 and 0.
As to why H, K, L and M are not used at all (on Oahu), Kamimura said it was an administrative decision made in 1979 or 1980 to help police identify vehicles.
http://archives.starbulletin.com/content...and_plates
From Wiki:
Series with first letter A-D not issued. Honolulu plates issued starting with E series, up to R series as of 2010, with the exception of:
HAB 123 or ZAB 123 (Hawaii County)
KAB 123 (Kauai County)
MAB 123 or LAB 123 (Maui County)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_reg..._of_Hawaii
added: kalakoa wins the Showdown at the Click & Paste Corral. I tip my hat.
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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Yeah, I really should find something more productive to do with my time.
In any case: It took the Big Island about 30 years to issue 529000 "H-series" plates, this averages to less than 18000/year, which seems like too many, especially given that fleets (Telcom, Oceanic, HELCO) are issued from a separate series.
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When I moved back to Texas three years ago, I also shipped my 2002 Trailblazer because it had very low mileage. It still only has about 55k miles. Anyway, I got a kick out of driving around with Hawaii plates for about three months before they expired. Everybody wanted the plates as a souvenir. I still have them and they start with H (from the Big Island).
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