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Today's topic is understanding the odds of winning a lottery.
Let's take the average 6/49 lottery that operates in several USA states and Canada Provinces as an average lottery for our example. To win the lottery grand prize "you" as the contestant have to select all six numbers exactly as drawn in the weekly or monthly contest.
To understand how to calculate your chances of winning the lottery one simply has to evaluate the process of calculating the pool of potential numbers that you as a contestant have available to select.
To pick the first number you have a one in 49 chance of selecting a correct number.
To select the second number you have one less in the pool of potential numbers available for your selection. To choose the second number you have a one in (49 times 48)= 2352 chance of getting them both correct.
To select the third number you have one less in the pool of potential numbers available for your selection. To pick the third number you have a one in (49 x 48 x 47) = 110,544 chance of getting all three of them correctly.
To select the fourth number you have one less in the pool of potential numbers available for your selection. To pick the fourth number you have a one in (49 x 48 x 47 x 46) = 5,085,024 chance of getting all four of them correct.
To select the fifth number you have one less in the pool of potential numbers available for your selection. To pick the fifth number you have a one in (49 x 48 x 47 x 46 x 45) = 228,826,080 chance of getting all five of them correct.
To pick the sixth and final number you have a one in (49x48x47x46x45x44) = 10,068,347,520 chance of getting all six of them correct.
The math experts tell me that when you pick the first number you have 6 out of 49 chances to pick a correct number, then 5 out of 48 etc. It works out to be 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 720
To be math correct take the 10 billion and divide by 720 to get the 13,983,815 to 1 chance.
So far I have not won any lottery and I do not know anyone who has won a lottery. Practical advice and mathematics suggest that one chance in 13.9 Million is very close to no chance in 13.9 Million.
As a dream motivator the lottery has unlimited potential. So I pay my one or two dollars when the lottery grand prize is up in the 10 million plus stratosphere as an entertainment expense. I use common sense when buying tickets and wild imagination when dreaming of spending the prize money. It works for me.
Good luck.
