So a co-worker was talking about someone’s stupid plan to always play the previous winning lotto numbers. I chimed in that I was pretty sure that didn’t actually hurt their odds. They thought I was crazy, pointing out that probably no lottery ever rolled the same five-six winning numbers twice in a row.
I seem to remember that I am correct, any sequence of numbers has the same odds. But I was totally unable to articulate how that could be. Can someone help me out? It does really seem like the person using this method would be at a serious disadvantage.
Edit: I get it, and I’m not gonna think about balls anymore today.
In: Mathematics
Any well defined number probably is worse that a non-well defined number.
Number consists only of dates? Worse.
Number is a numercization of some name? Worse.
Number is the most recent number played? Worse.
All numbers have the same probability of being picked, BUT special number are more likely to be picked by multiple people, so the odds of winning on special numbers is the same, but the expected payout is lower (cause the odds of someone else picking that special number are higher).
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