Saturday, 10 July 2010

Its nearest twin

Shares 2 of 5 numbers (3, 17) and 0 of 1 stars with the draw of 5 May 2010 — its closest relative in 27 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 95% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (7 July 2010): nothing carried over. Chance says 50% of draws repeat at least one number. Stars: none repeated (17% expected).

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 103 — the 46th 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

39 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 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 3% of the jackpot.

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