Wednesday, 13 July 2011

Its nearest twin

Shares 4 of 5 numbers (25, 29, 30, 39) with the draw of 6 December 2010 — its closest relative in 461 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 12% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (12 July 2011): nothing carried over. Chance says 51% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 135 — the 90th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 103. Side-by-side numbers: 29–30. 43% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

29 had not appeared for 8 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 0.9× as often as an average ticket — about as popular as 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.