Odds of hitting powerball

[tonypaladino]

I posted this in a lottery thread in the internet forum, but I wanted to see what you guys thing.

The odds of hitting the powerball jackpot is frequently said to be ~1/146 Million, but my calculations are as follows:

You have to pick 5 numbers from a field of 52 and the power ball # from a field of 52.

Possible combinations
(52*51*50*49*58)(52)=16,217,510,400
So your chances of your number being drawing is about 1/16.2 Billion

Am I wrong?

You have to divide the result by 5! - as order doesn't matter.

For example, drawing 1, 3, 15, 21, 33, 44 is the same as drawing 15, 3, 44, 21, 1, 33. By your calculation, you're counting both.

There are 5! = 5x4x3x2x1 = 120 variants of each five number sequence, which are identical apart from the order of the numbers drawn.

[tonypaladino]

So there are 135,145,920 possible combinations. OK, not as off as I thought.

Thanks
TONY

order doesn't matter. There are 55 white balls and 42 red ones. the equation is (5/55)*(4/54)*(3/53)*(2/52)*(1/51)*(1/42)=1/146 million or whatever it is. Already done this problem and I'm tired of the math :-) Odds are affected, unfortunately, by the chance that multiple people hit. Taxes are 25 % fed + 6-7 % state.

[LetYouDown]

Not familiar with powerball, but does the "power"ball have to be picked separately? i.e. you pick 5 numbers in any order and then you choose a separate number which has to be correct? Or you essentially pick 6 numbers and the "power"ball is really like any other ball?

For 6 numbers, where every one is the same: 1/C(52,6) = 1/20,358,520.

If the powerball number is "separate" and chosen from the same field of numbers:
1/52 * 1/C(51,5) = 1/122,151,120

If the powerball number is "separate" and chosen from a brand new field of 52 numbers:
1/52 * 1/C(52,5) = 1/135,145,920

[tonypaladino]

[ QUOTE ]
Not familiar with powerball, but does the "power"ball have to be picked separately? i.e. you pick 5 numbers in any order and then you choose a separate number which has to be correct? Or you essentially pick 6 numbers and the "power"ball is really like any other ball?

For 6 numbers, where every one is the same: 1/C(52,6) = 1/20,358,520.

If the powerball number is "separate" and chosen from the same field of numbers:
1/52 * 1/C(51,5) = 1/122,151,120

If the powerball number is "separate" and chosen from a brand new field of 52 numbers:
1/52 * 1/C(52,5) = 1/135,145,920

[/ QUOTE ]

I've never played power ball, but it is my understanding that it is just like the mega millions we have in ny/nj where the 5 balls and mega ball are from seperate fields. That what makes it so much harder to hit than regular 6 number lotto.

[Doc7]

Payouts for Powerball:
http://www.powerball.com/powerball/pb_prizes.asp

Last night I went with a girl to Giant and she bought 20 bucks worth of tickets for her boyfriends birthday (though I advised against it)

she matched 3 whites and a red on one ticket $100 , go figure.
she's going back tonight *rolls eyes*