Wednesday, 31 October 2012

Its nearest twin

Shares 3 of 5 numbers (12, 17, 30) with the draw of 4 January 2012 — its closest relative in 515 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 99% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (30 October 2012): nothing carried over. Chance says 50% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 69 — the 8th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 105. No two numbers side by side. 42% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

17 had not appeared for 21 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 2.6× as often as an average ticket — more popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 1% of the jackpot.

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