Well calculating the odds we would have a lot of things to consider. For example, how many people were in your graduating class? How many of them buy lottery tickets and at what frequency? Disturbtion would be a consideration. Just with these factors alone, I am calculating odds of 1 in 10 gazillion.
...but technically statistics of winning a lottery at all is pretty improbable, so it is something of a surprise anyone wins that thing at all. So being in a same class as another winner doesn't change the chances in a significant way.
...but technically statistics of winning a lottery at all is pretty improbable, so it is something of a surprise anyone wins that thing at all. So being in a same class as another winner doesn't change the chances in a significant way.
I agree- this doesn't change things unless you never play again. I say keep playing exclusively at your area's hot spots to mitigate the small change in your odds winning created by your victorious classmate.
But don't you see? You have been handed a wonderful opportunity! Now is the perfect time to put the finishing touches on that time machine we all know you're working on, go back in time, 'dispose' of your classmate, and assume his identity! All you have to do then is wait, and BOOM! Instant millionaire!
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But don't you see? You have been handed a wonderful opportunity! Now is the perfect time to put the finishing touches on that time machine we all know you're working on, go back in time, 'dispose' of your classmate, and assume his identity! All you have to do then is wait, and BOOM! Instant millionaire!
Either that or just go bum some money off him like everyone else...
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I agree- this doesn't change things unless you never play again. I say keep playing exclusively at your area's hot spots to mitigate the small change in your odds winning created by your victorious classmate.
I use the POWERBALL lottery as an example of persuasive marketing for my students. I ask them to think about the statistical probability that they will actually win the lottery and whether or not it makes sense to spend the money on a ticket or put the money you would have spent into an interest bearing account.
Then I ask them how they react when they hear the slogan, "You gotta be in it to win it!"
The vast majority of them admit that they usually run out and buy a ticket.
Hope trumps Reason almost every time.
Look at it this way...
You're also much less likely to take that $1 Million, invest it in risky investments, and lose all of it.
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(true story)
This dude in my highschool graduating class won $1 million in the lottery.
Now, I'll never win, because what are the odds that two people in a graduating class of 90 will win a motherf~@%ing million dollar lottery? Pretty f~@%ing slim, G.
If it helps, I can absolutely guarantee you that your odds of winning the lottery have not decreased! It's still less than a 10,000th of a percent, as it always was! Happy lottery-ing!
Improve the odds Heath! Buy more tickets ;)
But don't you see? You have been handed a wonderful opportunity! Now is the perfect time to put the finishing touches on that time machine we all know you're working on, go back in time, 'dispose' of your classmate, and assume his identity! All you have to do then is wait, and BOOM! Instant millionaire!
LOL... I just read this and was like... "Is that really the best use of the time machine?"
Math problem:
Say you buy a $5 lotto ticket every week, and finally win after 40 years. You get $1,000,000, but Uncle Sam keeps 60%, so you collect $400K and grin to yourself.
Your useless geek CPA brother puts $5/week into a moderate-yield investment portfolio. Assuming the recession is over by the time he looks at it, how much does he have in that account after 40 years?
Director of Sales
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Math problem:
Say you buy a $5 lotto ticket every week, and finally win after 40 years. You get $1,000,000, but Uncle Sam keeps 60%, so you collect $400K and grin to yourself.
Your useless geek CPA brother puts $5/week into a moderate-yield investment portfolio. Assuming the recession is over by the time he looks at it, how much does he have in that account after 40 years?
Umm...
...
Money dollars?
Umm...
Is this going to be on the test?
Umm... Money dollars? Is this going to be on the test?
Now that you're here, the correct answer is "none, because he spends that $5/week at Paizo instead."
::dude with too much time on hands runs in:: Sorry I'm late... ::beings lecture::
Assuming association alters the outcome of a lottery draw is like assuming a coin that flips heads 3 times in a row will flip heads on the 4th.
If you play (for example) the California SuperLotto you have five numbers 1 to 47 and one mega number of 1 to 27. Chance of winning any prize (matching the mega number or matching two or more of the five numbers) is reported by the state as being 1 in 23. Chance of winning the jackpot is reported by the state as being 1 in 41,416,353. Mathematically this means that the game is fixed because pure statistics says that the chances of the jackpot are 1 in 47*46*45*44*43*27 or 1 in 4,969,962,360. Slightly larger number.
So worry not. Your chances are relatively unchanged: about one in a zillion.
Your odds just decreased dramatically Heath. I bought a lottery ticket last night and won 15.6 million.
Your odds just decreased dramatically Heath. I bought a lottery ticket last night and won 15.6 million.
Does this mean the drinks are on you?
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Aren't there some life-ending and/or crippling statistics you could fall victim to instead? Has anyone in your high school class died from an allergic reaction to oatmeal? That could be you!!!
Hey... Nobody in my graduating class has been hit by a meteor! Does that drastically increase *my* chances of being hit by a meteor?
In fact, following this logic, I need to go out and murder my entire graduating class, to decrease the statistical chances that I will die in any of those methods!
Note to self; Research the things most likely to kill me, and make sure that everyone I know dies of them first...
I know the odds are the same; it was just a highly sophisticated Yogi Barraism.
Your odds just decreased dramatically Heath. I bought a lottery ticket last night and won 15.6 million.Does this mean the drinks are on you?
Why would you want to pour drinks on me?
Your odds just decreased dramatically Heath. I bought a lottery ticket last night and won 15.6 million.You should buy Paizo!
I'd rather buy WOTC and straighten them out. Paizo seems to be doing fine.
I've also been in 3 raucous automobile accidents in my life, so ergo I can hammer it at 125 m.p.h. and be 100% okay.
I just better stay off of motorcycles.
Did you ever read Go Dogs Go! Excellent literature!
I'd rather buy WOTC and straighten them out. Paizo seems to be doing fine.Your odds just decreased dramatically Heath. I bought a lottery ticket last night and won 15.6 million.You should buy Paizo!
If you win the lottery Eileen please buy the Greyhawk license from WOTC and get in the hands of Paizo.
Have you dropped any subtle hints regarding protection money? Accidents do happen, especially to the newly rich.
*Cut for Commercial:*
Vote for Callous Jack on the OTD Presidential campaing!
Here, a little Sourvenier!
*Back to standard program...*
(No coarse languages boss...please... PR!)
As others have said... a lottery winner in the same graduating class in no way counts against your chances.
I live in Putnam County NY. We have almost no residents here in this green little slice, but we win more lotteries than anywhere else. So if I said, "What are the chances that I could win a lottery after another person in my very town already has?" the answer would be, "Pretty damn good."
I hope Putnam County NY isn't as f##%ed up as Putnam County Florida was.
Aside from that little finger nibbling incident down by the crick last month, we've been cannabalism free since '06!
BREAKING NEWS!
Oy, da froggy, dats me, is runnin' fo' presidunt. Ima gunna be da best runner, cause ima reallie fast froggie. You see my feets? Dey speedy quick. Ima da best, so vote fo' me fo presidunt!
-my name is Froggie Cultyst, ana I prove dis message-
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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If you play (for example) the California SuperLotto you have five numbers 1 to 47 and one mega number of 1 to 27. ... Chance of winning the jackpot is reported by the state as being 1 in 41,416,353. Mathematically this means that the game is fixed because pure statistics says that the chances of the jackpot are 1 in 47*46*45*44*43*27 or 1 in 4,969,962,360. Slightly larger number.
Hello, Susan. This is a "permutations vs. combinations" issue.
Your mathematics would be right, if lottery winners had to name the numbers in order. But they don't. If you pick "01, 04, 16, 21, 41; 44" and the numbers come out "16, 01, 41, 21, 04; 44", you'd still win.
So the possibilities are 47!/(42!5!) x 27, which calculates out to 1,533,939 x 27, or 41,416,353. So, it looks like they're right. No fixed games.
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Look on the bright side.
The other guy I know who is famous among his friends for not winning the lottery didn't win (numbers he had played every game for 2 years came up) because he was in hospital when he would have normally bought the ticket, after having his car wrecked, by a driver going the wrong way down a main road at night.
His brand new Subaru, bought only a few days before, written off. The accident left him with epilepsy so he wasn't allowed to drive any more.
Life's not so bad...
If you win the lottery Eileen please buy the Greyhawk license from WOTC and get in the hands of Paizo.I'd rather buy WOTC and straighten them out. Paizo seems to be doing fine.Your odds just decreased dramatically Heath. I bought a lottery ticket last night and won 15.6 million.You should buy Paizo!
Done!
What would the odds be if everyone on these boards agreed to buy 10 tickets on a certain day, each with non-repeating numbers? I mean would there be enough to share?
I only buy when the lotto hits 21 million because 21 is a lucky number. I figure the regulars are doing it at the low mark and they deserve a win, but at the high end everyone is playing and I want to avoid that crowd.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Curaigh, a friend of mine once noted that any given set of valid numbers is as likely as any other set to win. (That's what "unbiased" means.) so there's no way to pick numbers to increase your chances of winning.
But, he noted, there are ways to increase your chances of winning the entire prize. You need to pick numbers that other people are unlikely to pick: numbers above 31 (because people pick birthdays) and strings in sequence. So, if you're playing to maximize your winnings, pick something like "38, 39, 40, 41, 42". It's just as likely as any other set of five numbers, and it's likely that nobody else will pick it.