Wednesday, 6 March 2013

Its nearest twin

Shares 3 of 5 numbers (17, 29, 31) with the draw of 10 December 2012 — its closest relative in 1,055 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 100% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (5 March 2013): 29 carried over. Chance says 60% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 111 — the 92th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 83. No two numbers side by side. 51% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

17 had not appeared for 24 draws. A number waits about 6 on average, and a wait this long was not a signal — the machine has no memory of it.

How many people held it

A line like this is played about 1.4× as often as an average ticket — more popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 0% of the jackpot.

Illustrative model, calibrated to published studies — not live sales.