Maryland Lottery a case study in the science of random numbersPrevious TopicNext Topic

As I said before, if I knew the algorithm they used in generating random number, no matter how complicated it would seems to be, a predicatable subset of numbers could be generated. Here I mean pure algorithm. If quantum events are used as seeds, that would be a different story. But even that would depends on how they digitize the quantum events. If they digitize a clock into 60 different seconds, that is really a piece of cake.

If massachusetts starts to use computer to generate numbers, I will become a RND algorithm expert.

Plenty of states are already using computers to generate numbers.  Why wait for Massachusetts if you have the capability of doing that?  Massachusetts uses the same currency as we use here in the United States.  If you can make big bucks breaking the NY lottery algorithm they'll spend in Massachusetts as well as they would if they came from the Massachusetts lottery.

Jack

The exact algorithm isn't necessary. You could do quite well on a few 5-of-6 or 4-of-5 matches every week or so. Probably better for you if you don't have the their exact one anyway. The straight path crosses the wavy road in many places.

There's at least one human being floating around, maybe a lot more, who knows their exact one. The guy who created or developed it.  How many people, do you suppose, know who he is, how much he gets paid, which kind of recreational drug he prefers?  What particular kind of kinky things he likes to do in the bedroom that he wouldn't want anyone to know about?

Tight security is an illusion in a world where human beings think they have secrets. 

Jack

Ok, sorry I wasn't on last night. Mouse problems. Computer mouse problems. Anyway several people have wondered about the little thing I mentioned about the mathematician who cracked the algorithm in Canada. It was actually part of a larger article about randomness. Here is the link:

http://wetzel.psych.rhodes.edu/

Scroll down until you see a link which says, "Student excecise: Can you act randomly?"

Click that then scroll down to the outline. Click I, B, definition problems, chaos and beating the lottery. There you will find the article. This was written by a professor at Rhodes College in Memphis Tennessee. You would think that a professor would have cited where he got his information but he did not. I have been unable to find anything else on the web about this particular item of interest. -Bonnie

 edit: you will have to copy and paste that link into your browser.

from that link...(thanks, atlasshrugged)
"The authorities arrested him for fraud."

I know you glass-half-full types say "but they let him go". I'm sure he could have found a more enjoyable use for his time than spending even a minute in the clink.

To the exact algorithm thing, usually they handle it like other contests where vendors, their relatives, advertisers, their relatives, etc. are not allowed to participate, lest someone get what our Canadian friend got - minus the payout. Or worse, a human being could be found floating around - in a river. Or suddenly decide to off himself in a park in DC.

Or suddenly decide to off himself in a park in DC.

Might be interesting to know just how many of the algorithm creaters have offed themselves, one way or another, or died in plane crashes, car wrecks, etc, before the lotteries felt comfy using their creations.

To the exact algorithm thing, usually they handle it like other contests where vendors, their relatives, advertisers, their relatives, etc. are not allowed to participate, lest someone get what our Canadian friend got - minus the payout.

Those precautions are certainly a beginning, but they really aren't likely to be sufficient to stifle human creativity so long as the incentives are so grand. 

Jack

That TN scratcher alert thread on the Lottery Forum seems to say just about anything that needs to be said about the security of lotteries, potential for insider knowledge of algorythms, human weakness, and the chances of anyone coming out to explode things in the courts if they have hard evidence of corruption.

We just buys our tickets, makes our best guesses, and hopes.

All anyone can do, come the end of the day.

Jack