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Patterns in Lottery Numbers
markmcb writes "Most everyone is familiar with the concept of the lottery, i.e., random numbers are selected and people guess what they will be for a cash prize. But how random are the numbers? Matt Vea has conducted a pattern analysis of the MegaMillions lottery, which recently offered a sum of $370M (USD) to the winner. Matt shows that the lottery isn't as random as it may seem and that there are 'better' choices than others to be made when selecting numbers. From the article, 'A single dollar in MegaMillions purchases a 1 in 175,711,536 chance of landing the jackpot ... a player stands a mildly better chance of winning a partial prize through the selection of weighted numbers.'" Includes some excellent charts of his analysis.
Most lotteries (as opposed to raffles) have less than half the money spent by lottery ticket buyers going into the payout pool.
You're already losing by buying the ticket.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42.
Rosencrantz: [flips coin which lands as 'heads'] 78 in a row. A new record, I imagine.
...
Guildenstern: Is that what you imagine? A new record?
Rosencrantz: Well...
Guildenstern: No questions? Not a flicker of doubt?
Rosencrantz: I could be wrong.
Guildenstern: Consider: One, probability is a factor which operates *within* natural forces. Two, probability is *not* operating as a factor. Three, we are now held within un-, sub- or super-natural forces. Discuss.
Rosencrantz: What?
There is an even higher risk of termination by not making that drive for 5 days...
I have something in common with Stephen Hawking...
Any statistical deviation in the balls is going to be microscopic.
Speak for yourself.
Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
So you're saying that if I buy just 80 tickets a day, I'll have above even chances of winning over 40 years!
...is that the patterns of stars, planets, and constellations you see in the night sky is not random at all, but rather are arranged by a very intricate system of mathematical functions which describe all the interactions of all those objects and include their wildly varying velocity vectors, sizes, densities, masses, and distances from one another and they are not contained in a fixed size and shape container where frequent collisions will affect their positions as seen by a viewer here on this planet.
The lotto balls are much more matched in size, shape, mass and density to each other, and they are contained in a relatively small, fixed size container respective in ratio of the volume of all the balls to the volume insode the container, where extremely frequent collisions between the balls will profoundly affect the probability of which ones will get picked by the picking mechanism.
Spock!
You're rambling again.
I didn't win the green suit, M-16 rifle, and two-year all-expenses-paid vacation to exciting tropical Vietnam, or the grand prize magic bullet with my name on it, and since my number was high enough to get classified as 1-H, I didn't even win the third-prize government-health-care physical exam. Haven't bought another ticket from those bastards since then.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Lisa: Oh, the Broncos won?
Homer: Why didn't I bet on them like Professor Pigskin told me to?
Lisa: Who's Professor Pigskin?
Homer: (Holding Professor Pignskin pamplet) He's a pig who can predict football winners in advance!
Lisa: How is that possible?
Homer: Because he's got something no gambler's ever had: a system! I've gotten the pamphlet four weeks in a row, and every time, the pick-of-the-week has been right on the money.
Lisa: Ah... I get it. Every week, they send out two pamphlets, half picking one team and half picking the other. Eventually, there's a small group of people who only receive the correct predictions and think Professor Pigskin is always right. That's when they ask for your money.
Homer: I have money!
Lisa: Dad, it's a scam!
Homer: A scam?! Not according to Eddie F. From Tucson, or Football Millionaire in Beloit, Michigan.
TO START
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Where's the 'ANY' key? I see Esk, Kitarl, and Pig-Up...