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The math of school lotteriesReply
I agree with you about sibling preference being important, at least when children are elementary aged. I started thinking about this topic of school lotteries after a conversation with a friend whose grandchild was applying for a spot in a public magnet school or charter school lottery. They were complaining that the school had set aside a fixed number of spots for applicants who lived in the neighborhood, and that it was unfair because people could game the system by renting a small apartment a
Nov 22, 2022, 12:19 pm - cottoneyedjoe - Mathematics Forum

Megaball predictionReply
Analyzing numbers is fun, but there is hardly any reason to believe that lotteries, at least government-run ones in democratic countries, should be anything other than random. If you want to find an edge in lotteries, look for flaws in the prize structures, not the number draws. There's the famous story of the Midwest couple Jerry and Marge Selbee who did just that. They found a lottery with a prize structure such that jackpots that were not won were distributed down to lower prize categori
May 10, 2023, 7:55 pm - Orange71 - Mathematics Forum

Craps Pass Line With Odds Bet - Casino AdvantageReply
I believe the majority of people playing this game (would it be ungracious to call them chumps?) make one or more of the many other possible bets that have a much greater casino advantage (some even 10%). They might as well be playing the lottery I presume that's why the casinos continue to offer the game. A whale (big-money gambler) coming up to a table betting $10,000 at a time on a Pass Line then taking 100x odds bets ($1M) would be a risky proposition for a casino. In case you're interes
Sep 7, 2022, 1:55 pm - Orange71 - Mathematics Forum