Enrique 0 #26 November 1, 2002 If you always change your mind after Monty shows you one of the boobie prizes, you will always have a 66% chance of winning. *** I totally agree with this theory. But please explain something to me (and I am not arguing nor being stubborn, I simply want to know): Is there or is there not a scientific way to increase your chances of winning a lottery? Is it mere luck? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
indyz 1 #27 November 1, 2002 Quote I totally agree with this theory. But please explain something to me (and I am not arguing nor being stubborn, I simply want to know): Is there or is there not a scientific way to increase your chances of winning a lottery? Is it mere luck? Buy more tickets Unless there is a flaw in the rules or the machines that draw the numbers, that is the only way to increase your odds. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scoby 0 #28 November 1, 2002 I only play the lottery when the jackpot exceeds the inverse of the odds. So if the odds are 1 in 42 million, then I'll think about buying a ticket when the jackpot is more than 45 million or so. Even then, I usually don't bother (maybe bought 5 tickets my whole life). I don't have any expectation of winning, I just see the dollar as the charge for the opportunity to dream about what I'd do with it. A lot of people who win the lottery wind up a lot less happy through the experience. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dove 0 #29 November 1, 2002 That is so funny to me! I hear a lot of people say stuff like that. They only play when the jackpot is really huge - as if $5million wouldn't make a difference in their lives! hehehe! For me, I just want to not have to worry about money anymore. I wouldn't live any different except I wouldn't fret over finances anymore. I'd go to school and do something for the joy of it and not for the financial gain. *Sigh* Fall in dove. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BikerBabe 0 #30 November 1, 2002 indyz is right. You have the same exact chance each time you play the lottery, no matter what numbers you play. For example: flip a coin. you have a 50/50 chance to get heads. if you flip a coin 100 times, and they ALL come up heads, you STILL have a 50/50 chance of getting heads on the 101st flip. Same with the lottery. The ONLY way to increase your odds of winning is to buy more tickets. As far as I'm concerned, the lottery is a tax on the poor. Put your dollar a day into an IRA or mutual fund. Say that's $30 a month. If your investment has a 12% rate of return and you start at age 21, you'll have approximately $1 million by the time you retire (assuming you retire at 65). Now THAT'S much better odds. And a helluva lot of jump tickets! Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ernokaikkonen 0 #31 November 1, 2002 >Is there or is there not a scientific way to increase your chances >of winning a lottery? Is it mere luck? The way the lottery works here, there's no way of increasing your chances of winning, but there is a way of increasing your winnings in case you do win something. We draw 7 numbers out of 39. With 4 right you win a small sum of money. This sum is determined according to the number of people who guessed 4 right. So the trick is simply to play the least popular numbers. Since people tend to play with their birth-dates and such, the smaller numbers are much more popular than the larger ones. Therefore, if you win with a combination of large numbers, there will be fewer people sharing the money. Another bad idea is to play combinations like '1-2-3-4-5-6-7'. This is the most popular combination played. Every single week. If the numbers happen to come up one day, the winners wont get enough money for a decent night out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PLFXpert 0 #32 November 1, 2002 Hunny, I donate $2 a week to the Florida Education Fund...ha ha ha...at least, that's how I justify my two lotto tickets a week;-). I would love to win, but i refuse to buy more than one ticket per drawing. If it's meant to be, I will win on my one ticket. I have numbers I used to always get, but I haven't used them in a long time. Quick picks are just easier and let's face it, it's always the weird sequence of #s that wins.Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PLFXpert 0 #33 November 1, 2002 I just read the other posts...and I must say, the riddler is correct. I'm a math WHIZ. I've also taken about a million statistics, research, quantitative and qualitative research and math classes. In every single class, they will use the lottery example. The riddler is correct. Your chances are the same each time you play no matter what #s you use. The using the same #s theory is a superstition, so if you believe in those, by all means. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flyhi 24 #34 November 1, 2002 Quote I only play the lottery when the jackpot exceeds the inverse of the odds. So if the odds are 1 in 42 million, then I'll think about buying a ticket when the jackpot is more than 45 million or so. Quote That is so funny to me! I hear a lot of people say stuff like that. They only play when the jackpot is really huge - as if $5million wouldn't make a difference in their lives! Actually, you can figure out when it would "pay" to play if you use a decision tree. If you figure that when you play the lottery, one of two things will definitely happen, either you will win, or you will lose. The probability you will win if the odds are 1 in 45,000,000 is, 1/45,000,000 (whatever that percentage is). The prob you will lose is 1-(1/45,000,000). If you spend a dollar on a ticket and lose, then the payoff for that event is $1.00 *(1-1/45,000,000), or approximately -$1.00. If you win, the payoff for that event is the amount of the lottery times 1/45,000,000. The total payout then is the amount you lose added to the amount you win. As long as that is a negative number, you shouldn't play. Thus if the odds are 1 in 45,000,000, you shouldn't play until the prize is over $45M. And then, you can only play $1.00 or you'd be a sucker.Shit happens. And it usually happens because of physics. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
markbaur 0 #35 November 1, 2002 QuoteThe ONLY way to increase your odds of winning is to buy more tickets. Statistically, the more tickets you buy, the more money you are likely to lose. If you bought every ticket in a particular game, you'd get back about 50 cents on the dollar (more or less). The best way to increase your odds of winning is to buy no tickets at all. I don't want you to do this, though, because every time you buy a ticket, my taxes go down: I win! Mark Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest #36 November 1, 2002 Quote Anyone know if you're winners have used random numbers or picked their own? I know it's pathetic, but winning the lotto would be such a dream come true! *sigh* [RANT] It's best thought of as an excise tax on stupidity. It's also a symptom of corruption on a fundamental level - government's willing collusion in a scheme that takes advantage of the baser nature of the citizens. In my mind, it's like our elected officials running a prostitution ring, or pushing drugs. And just like drugs, the state becomes dependent upon the revenues. What happens when the silly sheep finally wise up and quit squandering their pathetic little paychecks on the lottery? Where will the money come from then? While we're at it, what's wrong with just letting people keep more of what they earn in the first place? Why is it that I'm taxed so that other people's kids can get a worthless state education? The odds of the state-run lotto scheme here in Washington (for a scheme is what it is) are stated as one in 7.2 million. At those odds, you're 7 times more likely to be struck by lightning (1 in 1 million), and 6000 times more likely to die in an automobile accident (1 in 1200). You'll get far better returns by purchasing stable, reliable stocks and/or bonds. A lottery is like The Force - it has a powerful influence upon the weak-minded. [/RANT] In answer to your query - it doesn't matter. Every group of six numbers in the pool is as valid (or invalid) as any other, because the pool is totally random."The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kingbunky 3 #37 November 1, 2002 Quote Sure! I am very generous! Besides, I have been too busy all week playing with my newly shaved self (OMG! So soft and smooth!) and my boobies are starting to feel neglected anyhow. you're killing me! "Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart." MB4252 TDS699 killing threads since 2001 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riddler 0 #38 November 4, 2002 This is a common mistake when thinking about statistics. If you view the statistic of a repeated number of drawings from the beginning, it looks like you can make a statistical statement about the entire course of drawings from the beginning. But you can't. Statistics don't work that way for drawings. Each drawing is a new one that has no knowledge of previous drawings or future drawings. And each one has a completely random result that is not dependent on past results or future results. If it were any different, then the odds of winning would have to change for every drawing, because you would have to use the same argument in reverse - i.e. the chances of the same numbers coming up a second time are astronomically low, therefore, the odds of selecting the right combination have been reduced by one combination. The odds are the same for every drawing. This is because the chances for any one combination coming up are always the same.Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riddler 0 #39 November 4, 2002 Discrete mathematics, eh? It's been a few years since I've used z-domain analysis It was great fun applying discrete models to electro-mechanical control systems, but that's what make me a nerd, I guess Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Enrique 0 #40 November 4, 2002 i.e. the chances of the same numbers coming up a second time are astronomically low, therefore, the odds of selecting the right combination have been reduced by one combination.*** ... that's exactly what I was thinking. I know it is wrong, but I still haven't convinced myself.... it will come, don't worry Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
happythoughts 0 #41 November 5, 2002 Quote Statistics don't work that way for drawings. Each drawing is a new one that has no knowledge of previous drawings or future drawings. And each one has a completely random result that is not dependent on past results or future results. I had a discussion of independent events with a statistics teacher. She said that all the choices have the same chance because the machine "has no memory of the prior drawing". I said "so the same combination could come up two weeks in a row?" "Yes it could" "If it came up three weeks in a row, would you be suspicious?" To be deemed truly fair, the results need to be random or even statisticians become suspitious. Therefore, people do use previous events to predict future events that are defined as independent by math goobers who don't believe it themselves. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ramon 0 #42 November 5, 2002 didn't want to let the cat out of the bag....but... good luck sweetie."Revolution is an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment.", Ambrose Bierce. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
