Number 39

In Mega Millions under the 5/50 + 1/25 · Sep 1996 – Jan 1999 rules — 172 draws, 5 from 1–50 (an earlier era).

13times drawn · chance expected 17 −1.07σ

29draws waiting · a wait this long: 5% for any number

11.2average wait between appearances · chance says 10.0

22longest completed wait · 75% chance of one at least that long

39 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 13 times in 172 draws against 17.2 expected, −1.07σ. Each draw is independent: after 29 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 39, draw by draw

Drawn 13 times in 172 draws · average wait 11.2 draws · longest completed wait 22 · waiting 29 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 39 has a favourite seat — chance gives a large number the high positions more often. That is the shape of sorting, not of the machine.

1st smallest0 · chance 0.0
2nd smallest0 · chance 0.4
3rd smallest0 · chance 2.4
4th smallest8 · chance 5.7
5th smallest5 · chance 4.5

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 1.1 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

27 44 2 5 13 17

Never drawn alongside 12 of the other 49 numbers; chance expects about 17 such strangers by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 39 is picked about 0.86× as often as an indifferent choice — 34th most popular of 50. That changes nothing about whether it comes up, and everything about how many ways a jackpot on it would be shared.

Numbers above 31 ×0.86

The model and its sources → · What people believe about 39 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
1998-10-02	22	5th	2 6 8 26 39
1998-07-17	3	4th	13 24 35 39 44
1998-07-07	1	4th	5 9 27 39 48
1998-07-03	15	4th	5 36

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: 39 is drawn with probability 5/50 tonight whatever it did last week.