What method of playing the lottery has the best chance of winning, by letting the computer select the numbers or by the Player selecting the numbers?

gazelleintense

about lottery

I use to play it btw... not anymore.

NJExit9

Very Best Method is Play in A group of people who play every lottery Here in NJ its Tuesday and Friday. Just recently a group of 10 office workers who played together for years hit the 216 Million that pays lump sum of 140 million Just last Tuesday. QuickPicks

NeedKarma

How many people didn't win? And how much have they spent on buying lottery tickets over their lifetime?

NJExit9

How many people Didn't win this particular powerball? Ummm I think 5 states participated and there is no way I can calculate how much money all those players spent in their lifetime. Interesting question LOL

NJExit9

If you are wasting money on Cigarettes and Starbucks Coffee which a lot of people do, Hey may as well have some fun. Think of the few people in the office that Opted out of playing that day? I don't play the lottery hardly at all, but I'm giving a good option how to play the lottery and thus helping by answering the original question. Not questioning the motive for asking in the first place. For shame.

Ion Saliu

When you ask about methods of winning the lottery, many people will tell you in the strongest of terms: Randomness. "You can't win the lottery methodically, because it is totally random…or truly random…" But ask them back: "Is there anything that is NOT random?" Some might get mad at you in no time!

Everything is random and the Universe itself is ruled by randomness. The variation is in the degree of certainty (or probability of appearance). Randomness is the fairest form of being and not-being. And all that is possible to comprehend by means of mathematics. Mathematics, lately with the help of the computer, has increased the chance of winning the lottery. Mathematics or computer software does NOT change the odds whatsoever. But math (via software) increases the degree of certainty (winning chance, you might say). It is common sense that the chance of winning increases with the number of trials, while the probability remains the same. I point you to resources that thoroughly analyze lottery with an emphasis on mathematics (and software).

Introduction to lottery mathematics: Probabilities, software, wheels, systems, methods

Powerball system based on mathematical skips with 4 jackpots in 20 drawings.

The lottery commissions change the game formats very often, don't they? They just changed the Powerball game in 2009! They didn't do that in the previous decade, when the personal computers were not widely available and used. Only a low percentage of "geeks" owned and used personal computers! Back then, the lotto jackpots rolled over much more often, although the odds of the games were much lower! I remember an event in the late 1980's. The Pennsylvania Super 7 game had odds far, far lower than the Powerball. Yet, the game was the first to reach a jackpot over100 million dollars (back then, the US dollar was much stronger). (The odds were meager by today's standards: better than 1 in 4 million. Powerball odds today: Worse than 1 in 175 million!) Now, the new Super 7 jackpot barely reaches multimillion-dollar levels!

If you are not in the math thing, or you are laid-back, just use a good random combination generator. Repeat the process many times before committing to real lottery play. As they say, the more (often) you play, the better your chance to win the lottery. In this case, by repeating the "play" you compress the time and costs. Try this free online lotto generator (calculates the odds too):

Lottery generator, lotto odds calculator.

Best of luck!

Ion Saliu
Mathematician At-Large

excon

Hello again:

I suppose, to someone who thinks they can pick lottery numbers, the above would be true....

But, it isn't true. It's not even close. There ARE laws in the Universe. In fact, ALL of it, the entire Universe, which includes you and me, is governed by LAWS.

We even know what most of them are.

excon

Ion Saliu

Excon:

Doesn't it feel good to be free from the tyranny of the LAW? That's how you complain about LAW to your mates and pals, including inside that smoky pub. We talk to yea here about SOCIAL LAW, which is at its peak of strictness in the legal sense. As they said long before your incarceration or release: Dura lex, sed lex.


There are Universal LAWS, as you sez. But you "confine" LAW to a "paradise" free from randomness. There ain't no such place. Everything is random, and the Laws account for that. What a physical Law expresses is incomplete. Every Natural Law should express more clearly that: "This Relation_Expressed_Mathematically_Is_True_With _a_Degree_of_Certainty_Equal_To_DC". Now, that DC is what puzzles most people, including highly trained scientists. They take a Law in terms of Absolute Certainty. Mathematics has proven, for at least 300 years, that Absolute Certainty is Absolute Absurdity. Abraham de Moivre was the first (in the 18th century) to come across that. I live in much more tolerant times, given the civilization I live in. I did discover the whole Truth about Absolute Certainty as Absolute Absurdity. The "Almighty" logarithm is proof far beyond human beliefs or emotions. Many people know now the mathematical relation as The Fundamental Formula of Gambling (FFG). I also named it The Fundamental Formula of TheEverything. It is here, including a comprehensive table with the relation between the probability, number of trials, and degree of certainty:

The Fundamental Formula of Gambling: Theory of Probability, Mathematics, Chance, Degree of Certainty.

Einstein is the most "Intelligent mystic of all time". He was never able to answer many questions regarding his thinking. He totally discarded of probability. He could only come up with a kind of stupid one-fits-all-answer: "God does not play dice with the Universe!" Kind of silly, Alberto! The Universe is a random game. In fact, it is so dicey, that a gamma-ray burst or a supernova can wipe us out or suck us in without scientific notice. It happens millions of times every millisecond all over the Universe…

"Only Randomness is Almighty. Randomness is Great!"


Ion Saliu,
Randomly At-Large