Saturday, 8 January 2011

Its nearest twin

Shares 2 of 5 numbers (10, 38) and 0 of 1 stars with the draw of 10 November 2010 — its closest relative in 106 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 100% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (5 January 2011): 38 carried over. Chance says 45% of draws repeat at least one number. Stars: none repeated (4% expected).

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 88 — the 14th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 120. No two numbers side by side. 37% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

13 had not appeared for 21 draws. A number waits about 9 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 1.0× as often as an average ticket — about as popular as most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 5% of the jackpot.

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