Wednesday, 4 April 2012

Its nearest twin

Shares 3 of 5 numbers (5, 8, 32) with the draw of 18 January 2012 — its closest relative in 721 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 100% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (3 April 2012): nothing carried over. Chance says 52% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 62 — the 5th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 100. Side-by-side numbers: 5–6. 44% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

5 had not appeared for 42 draws. A number waits about 8 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 1.3× as often as an average ticket — more popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 2% of the jackpot.

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