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#1
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Powerball q
I feel dumb. I'm assuming I'm just missing something obvious. In Powerball, you pick 5 numbers ranging from 1-53 and one "Powerball" ranging from 1-42. If you get them all right, you win. Shouldn't the odds of winning be 1 in 53*52*51*50*49*42 ~ 14,463,212,400?
According to their website, it's 1 in 120,526,770.00 |
#2
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Re: Powerball q
You dont have to choose the first five numbers in order so you're 120 times more likely to win.
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#3
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Re: Powerball q
[ QUOTE ]
You dont have to choose the first five numbers in order so you're 120 times more likely to win. [/ QUOTE ] well duh. like i said, probably just missing something obvious. good thing i'm not looking to make a career out of something probability-related like being an actuary. aw crap. |
#4
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Re: Powerball q
[ QUOTE ]
I feel dumb. I'm assuming I'm just missing something obvious. In Powerball, you pick 5 numbers ranging from 1-53 and one "Powerball" ranging from 1-42. If you get them all right, you win. Shouldn't the odds of winning be 1 in 53*52*51*50*49*42 ~ 14,463,212,400? According to their website, it's 1 in 120,526,770.00 [/ QUOTE ] Dont use permutations. Use combinational probability since order does not matter. C(53,5) * 42 = 120,526,770 which is (53!/5!48!) * 42 or simplied [ (53*52*51*50*49)/(5*4*3*2) ] * 42 = 120,526,770 This is assuming the Powerball number can be a duplicate of one of the regular 5 I believe. |
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