Mentat Data Chart
Portable data pads that give Mentats a quick reference for figures too vast to hold fresh in memory.
A trained Mentat's mind holds and processes staggering amounts of information through pure internal recall. Even so, portable data charts remain a common practical aid. They let a Mentat like Thufir Hawat cross-reference figures, logistics, and political data too voluminous, or shifting too quickly, to keep entirely current in active memory. Call them an extension of a Mentat's working method rather than a crutch. They free his trained recall for the deeper pattern recognition and projection that real Mentat computation depends on. Rival Mentats serving opposing Houses put the same tools to equally practical use. Piter De Vries, twisted and unpredictable in Harkonnen service, approached strategy nothing like Hawat did, and still reached for the same charts. Simple as they look, the numbers on those charts often held the raw material behind decisions that shaped the fate of entire Houses.
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