How do you calculate the odds of winning the lottery?
You choose 6 numbers from a range of 1 to 49 and the odds should come out at 13.9 million to 1 against. But my hungover brain can't suss out how to calculate it.
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How do you calculate the odds of winning the lottery?
You choose 6 numbers from a range of 1 to 49 and the odds should come out at 13.9 million to 1 against. But my hungover brain can't suss out how to calculate it.
49^6
(49*48*47*46*45*44)/(1*2*3*4*5*6)=x
ØØ
Quote:
7.1511238420185162619416617037867e-8
1:13million?
= 13.8 BillionQuote:
Originally Posted by dogfish227
Only 3 orders of magnitude out :D
Yep, looks like noteme is right.Quote:
Originally Posted by dglienna
The odds aren't important, the average payout vs average cost is important.
Note: There are situations in the lottery where payout are higher than cost!
For example: You're going to lose your house unless you make 100$ within the next hour. Go to the store and buy some scratch-n-wins! The cost of NOT playing is you lose your house. The cost of playing is a dollar + a near sure change of losing your house!
Assuming your house is worth 10 000$, you only need a 0.00001 chance of winning a 101$ to justify playing. :wave:
Of course the reason you're losing your house is because you played the lottery in the first place, moron.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wossname
That is the only Q I managed on my exam a few years back....or at least not far from the truth....I got my first C that year...:D
million, or billion. when it is chances of winning the lottery, it doesn't really matter. i started playing for 4 months this year, and then quit. wasted a dollar per day, and won $15 dollars. 1/6. Waste of money.
There is no sutch lottery where everyone earns on it. So you have to be lucky to gain money, thats why it is called a lottery. You will never have the ods on your side...;)
I'm going to buy 14 million tickets and pay for them with an IOU. (On a roll-over week, so the jackpot is more than £14million) then pay for the original tickets with my winnings and keep the leftover cash!!
Perfect plan, it cannot fail.
Doesn't a lottery ticket cost more than a dollar? What if someone else wins, too?Quote:
Originally Posted by wossname
Quote:
Originally Posted by alkatran
Yes. £1 = approx $1.65. There are places outside america you know. ;)
Nobody else would be allowed to win, because I say so.
The number of combinations is actually 49x48x47x46x45x44, not 49^6, because you can't use the same number again and so the pool of available numbers decreases.
For ease of calculation, that's the same as 49!/43! which is 10068347520
I am right...:)
http://www.saliu.com/bbs/messages/266.html
I was puzzled as to why NoteMe's solution has the 6! in there. I just dug around and it's to do with the fact that some of the groups in the 10068347520 possibilities are the same as others, just drawn in a different sequence. For any 6 number group, there are 6 ways of defining the first ball, 5 for the second etc, so the 10068347520 actually gets reduced by a factor of 6!=720, to be the 14milliion.
Never be pusseled by my posts...:)
Permutations and combinations, ever hear of n choose mQuote:
Originally Posted by NoteMe
n combinations choose m.
You have 49 or n numbers you can only choose 1 result for that single spot.
If its a 6 digit lottery system you have 6! chances.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jhermiz
Why did you quote me on that one....I was the one that was right here....look at all the others...:)
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoteMe
49!/43!*6!
Sorry I didnt see your solution :blush:Quote:
Originally Posted by NoteMe
if you mean that that 6 is under the line, then you just wrote the same as I did....
Quote:
Originally Posted by jhermiz
Hehe....you managed to post before me...:)