Number 26

In Texas Two Step under the 5/35 · Feb 2022 – Nov 2022 rules — 75 draws, 5 from 1–35 (an earlier era).

14times drawn · chance expected 11 +1.08σ

11draws waiting · a wait this long: 21% for any number

4.8average wait between appearances · chance says 7.0

14longest completed wait · 85% chance of one at least that long

26 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 14 times in 75 draws against 10.7 expected, +1.08σ. Each draw is independent: after 11 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 26, draw by draw

Drawn 14 times in 75 draws · average wait 4.8 draws · longest completed wait 14 · waiting 11 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 26 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 0.6
3rd smallest5 · chance 3.3
4th smallest7 · chance 6.2
5th smallest2 · chance 3.8

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 1.6 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

14 15 22 24 29 6

Never drawn alongside 8 of the other 34 numbers; chance expects about 7 such strangers by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 26 is picked about 1.22× as often as an indifferent choice — 15th most popular of 35. 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

The model and its sources → · What people believe about 26 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
2022-10-13	11	3rd	5 19 26 29 31
2022-08-25	1	5th	6 16 22 24 26
2022-08-22	1	3rd	14 24 26 27 30
2022-08-18	4	3rd	12

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: 26 is drawn with probability 5/35 tonight whatever it did last week.