Number 5

In Lotto under the 6/45 + 1/45 · Jan 2010 – Oct 2015 rules — 601 draws, 6 from 1–45 (an earlier era).

75times drawn · chance expected 80 −0.62σ

3draws waiting · a wait this long: 75% for any number

8.1average wait between appearances · chance says 7.5

29longest completed wait · 74% chance of one at least that long

5 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 75 times in 601 draws against 80.1 expected, −0.62σ. Each draw is independent: after 3 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday. It has also come out as the bonus ball 13 times, counted separately.

Number 5, draw by draw

Drawn 75 times in 601 draws · average wait 8.1 draws · longest completed wait 29 · waiting 3 draws now

a completed wait — darker is longer the wait still running — a lower bound, not a finished gap

Where it lands in a sorted draw

Sort a draw and 5 has a favourite seat — chance gives a small number the low positions more often. That is the shape of sorting, not of the machine.

1st smallest45 · chance 45.4
2nd smallest28 · chance 25.2
3rd smallest2 · chance 4.1
4th smallest0 · chance 0.2
5th smallest0 · chance 0.0
6th smallest0 · chance 0.0

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 8.5 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

20 6 31 42 4 25

It has shared a draw with every one of the other 44 numbers; chance expected about 0.0 still unmet by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 5 is picked about 1.34× as often as an indifferent choice — 6th most popular of 45. That changes nothing about whether it comes up, and everything about how many ways a jackpot on it would be shared.

Numbers 1–31 — the birthday zone ×1.22
Numbers 1–12 — day and month overlap ×1.10

The model and its sources → · What people believe about 5 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
2015-09-23	8	1st	5 6 14 16 32 43
2015-08-26	1	2nd	1 5 21 24 30 42
2015-08-22	1	1st	5 17 19 20 29 32
2015-08-19	29	1st

What this cannot tell you

Nothing here predicts the next draw. A number’s history is a record of a fair machine’s past, and the machine keeps none of it: 5 is drawn with probability 6/45 tonight whatever it did last week.

2014-03-08	6	1st	5 6 14 17 25 38
2014-02-15	1	1st	5 8 20 21 24 32
2014-02-12	7	1st	5 20 21 24 33 35
2014-01-18	14	2nd	4 5 13 21 29 37
2013-11-30	4	2nd	4 5 14 25 28 31
2013-11-16	18	1st	5 8 12 18 23 32
2013-09-14	13	1st	5 9 15 31 35 43
2013-07-31	16	1st	5 6 25 28 38 45
2013-06-05	4	2nd	4 5 7 18 24 32
2013-05-22	4	1st	5 8 11 14 23 34
2013-05-08	11	2nd	2 5 20 30 37 39
2013-03-30	8	1st	5 11 12 17 42 44
2013-03-02	7	1st	5 8 9 30 33 45
2013-02-06	26	2nd	3 5 9 13 25 42
2012-11-07	10	2nd	4 5 9 20 27 31
2012-10-03	1	1st	5 14 16 26 34 40
2012-09-29	17	2nd	4 5 15 25 28 33
2012-08-01	4	2nd	1 5 15 22 25 39
2012-07-18	17	1st	5 6 11 25 30 41
2012-05-19	13	2nd	1 5 17 22 35 43
2012-04-04	7	1st	5 7 23 26 31 45
2012-03-10	9	2nd	3 5 14 16 22 26
2012-02-08	13	2nd	1 5 7 20 31 40
2011-12-24	11	2nd	4 5 24 25 28 42
2011-11-16	5	1st	5 9 11 13 28 43
2011-10-29	7	1st	5 7 9 21 26 40
2011-10-05	1	1st	5 8 19 31 34 45
2011-10-01	1	2nd	1 5 20 38 40 42
2011-09-28	13	1st	5 10 15 27 35 43
2011-08-13	1	2nd	2 5 15 18 37 40
2011-08-10	11	2nd	2 5 18 20 28 37
2011-07-02	7	1st	5 6 11 20 29 39
2011-06-08	1	1st	5 6 17 21 38 41
2011-06-04	11	2nd	4 5 6 35 38 42
2011-04-27	18	1st	5 18 30 41 44 45
2011-02-23	1	1st	5 12 17 19 40 41
2011-02-19	1	1st	5 17 18 22 34 37
2011-02-16	3	1st	5 22 27 28 37 41
2011-02-05	8	2nd	4 5 6 15 20 25
2011-01-08	11	1st	5 9 13 17 24 38
2010-12-01	1	1st	5 11 25 27 30 40
2010-11-27	1	3rd	3 4 5 12 20 31
2010-11-24	7	2nd	2 5 14 22 38 42
2010-10-30	11	1st	5 7 12 19 39 44
2010-09-22	5	1st	5 8 11 12 26 36
2010-09-04	12	1st	5 10 11 23 26 38
2010-07-24	3	1st	5 11 18 22 27 28
2010-07-14	2	1st	5 13 31 36 42 43
2010-07-07	29	2nd	2 5 7 13 20 34
2010-03-27	24	2nd	4 5 6 15 35 42
2010-01-02	—	1st	5 14 20 32 39 42