GASMETERGUY's Blog

Today I went to Sears to buy a new hat.  While paying for my purchase I was asked if I wished to open a credit card.  I once had a Sears credit card way back in 1966.  I owed more money to Sears than I made in a year.  Many months would pass until I paid that sucker off and I swore I would never own another one.  So I gently refused.

My wife, honest to a fault, jumped in to explain why I did not want a credit card.  The clerk, a young woman all of 17 years of age, listened politely.  When my wife got to the point in her story (she began with "When the earth cooled.....") where my wife was telling her just how big Sears was before the accountants got involved with sales, the young lady said, "Oh, yes.  We are reading about that in our American History book."

You know you are old when events in your past are now written about in history books.

Yes, I like that idea of making two sets of data.  So I did.  Here's what I got.

   1   1   1   0   0   1    0   1   1   1  0   0

                and

   1   1   1    1   0   0   1   0   0  1   0   0

Now to combine the two to make a third;  the difficult part (not hard.  Hard refers to density, not difficulty)  Any thoughts would be appreciated.  Just PM me or leave a comment.  I usually don't check this blog as often as I should so a PM would be faster.

Looks like another drive to Memphis.  (My way of referring to the time when I lottomize).  Maybe I can think of a solution.

OK.  So at this point in time I have something worth pursuing.  So pursue I did.  I used all the draws in Georgia P5 game up to and including 2008.  I then applied the concepts of Information Theory and mined the data.

Once all my data was in place and my program was ready to predict, I re-ran all the Georgia draws up to and including 2008.  Imagine my excitment when I saw that 15 to 20 times a year for the years 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, my prediction was successful.  I think I ran around the house naked for an hour.  That's outside the house in case I did not make myself clear.

Now I was ready to throw 2009 and what there was of 2010 into the mix.  As the computer ran and the numbers refreshed, and the little green, red, and blue lights flashed, my heart began to pound.  I began to have fears of what my success might mean.  Would others try to steal my ideas?  Would they threaten my life?  Will I have to move into a gated community, one with 24/7 security?  What would I do with my first million?  All sorts of wonderful thoughts coursed thru my mind.

I need not have bothered,  Not one draw, no not one, matched my prediction. 

"What happened?" I asked myself, refusing to believe what I was seeing.  "Where did I go wrong?"

Me and Jack Daniels had a nice long talk about it.  We are still talking.  He is doing the listening and I am doing the talking.

I can't believe a year has passed since my last entry.  Time sure is passing quickly.  I remember when I was in high school.   We got out at 3:15.   From 3:00 pm until 3:15, a full week would pass.  Now I wake up on Monday, take a nap on Wednesday, and go to bed on Friday (or so it seems).  Time is passing that fast for me.  Being retired ain't what its cracked up to be.

Oh,well.

In my thread on Information Theory, I said something about a drawn number being a divisor of the sum.  After three days of trying, I finally got my code to work correctly.  And the answer is...  42% of the total combinations contain a number which is a divisor of the sum.  58% do not have such a numbers.

I looking over the Georgia P5 results from draw one, the drawn numbers correspond precisely as expected, 42% had a number which was a divisor of the sum and 58% did not.

I can use this pattern.  I only wish I had a few more.

VBA:  Lesson 2

This time we are going to sum our five numbers, then determine which one is odd and which one is even.  We are going to build on what we have already.

So just how do we go about summing five numbers?  First we need a variable to hold the answer.  That variable will be called SUM1.  This variable will be a whole number so our variable will be an integer.

Open your code by pressing alt + f11.  If you don’t see your code, you must call it up.  Click on VIEW at the top of your screen.  Click on PROJECT EXPLORER.  Click on MODULES.  Click on VIEW again.  Click on CODE.  If your screen is still blank, follow the step again but click on SHEET1 instead of MODULDES. 

We must put the variable into the DECLARATIONS part of our program.  So insert this line anywhere in the Declarations section of your code.

 DIM SUM1 AS INTEGER.

Now that we have our variable defined, we can do something with it.  Right after line 70 will be where we begin this arduous task.  To keep things separate so we can more easily find them later if we have a need to, let’s put a demarcation line across the screen. 

We will use “remarks” to do this.  A remark is just a sentence letting us know what the code is doing at that point.  We use the apostrophe  ( ’) to insert a remark.  So the line will look something like this”

‘****************************************************

You can copy and paste this line into your program.  The computer ignores everything after the apostrophe there is no need to fear.  You can put anything after the remark and it will not affect your program.

Below the remark line we begin summing our 5 numbers.  The code is below.

For X = 1 to 5

SUM1 = SUM1 + A(5)

Next

This is called a for-next loop.  There are other loops but I like the for-next loop because I am in total control of how many times the program will loop.  In the above line, I am telling the computer to loop 5 times beginning with 1.  During each loop the computer will take the variable SUM1 and add A(1) to it.  Then on the second loop it will take SUM1 and add A(2) to it.  And so on until all five elements of the A(X) have been added to SUM1.

Now that I have summed all five numbers from my number set, I have to determine if the sum is odd or even.  While there are several ways to do this I prefer the simple one.  I will first divide SUM1 by 2.  If the sum is even, dividing by 2 will result in a whole number, one with no decimal places.  If the sum is odd, dividing by 2 will result in a number with decimal places.  Using this fact, I can then determine, using BASIC commands, whether it is odd or even.

First do the dividing by 2.  Here is the code

J = SUM1 / 2

Simple, right.  “J” will now be a number with decimal places or a number without decimal places.  Our job now is to determine which.

BASIC has an operator called ABS.  ABS tells the computer to return a value with decimal places as a value without decimal places.  In order words, it will round up or down your number, in this case J.  In VBA this command (ABS) is INT.

Here is the code.

J = SUM1 / 2

I = Int(J)

Now I (the letter, not me) will either be the same as J or, should J have decimal places, just J rounded up or down.  Let’s compare the two.  If J  =  I then our answer will be even.  If J <> (does not) = I then our answer will be odd.  Here is what we are striving to accomplish.

If J <> I Then ODD1 = ODD1 + 1  ‘if they are not equal, the sum is odd

If J = I Then EVEN1 = EVEN1 + 1 ‘if they are equal, the sum is even

Do you see a potential problem in the lines above?  I do.  While the computer might makes sense of these lines and do precisely what we want, there might come a time when we have forgotten what it was we were trying to do.  If we forget, and believe me you will forget, especially when your code gets long and complicated, then all sorts of bad things will happen.  What we should do is make the variable “even” distinctive, and also the variable “odd”.  So put the number 1 after one of them  like I did above.

In the code above, we have introduced two new variables, even and odd.  These two variables should be included in the DECLARATIONS section of your program.  You should know how to do this by now so, stop, go to the top of your code and put them in.  I will leave it to you to determine if they are integers or something else.  Remember, integers are whole numbers.  Also, while you are up there, add the variables “J” and “I”.  Your program will not work without them.  You will get a “COMPLE ERROR”  if they are not declared.

Having gone this far is good, very good, but what value is there if we don’t know or can not see what we have computed?  Not much.  So we have to put our results somewhere on our Excel spreadsheet so we can see how many even and how many odd number sets (some people like to say “lines”) we have.

In column 1 of your Excel spreadsheet and on row 4, type the word “even”.  Drop down one row and type “odd”.  We will be putting the results in the cell just to the right of those words.  After our program has run, we will know just how many odd and even we have.  The results should be about half of the total 575,757 or 287,878 give or take one.

OK, so we now have even1 and odd1 at our disposal.  Where did I say we were going to put them?  Hold on while I check my Excel spreadsheet.  Oh, yes, column 1, row 4 and 5

Even1 = cells(4,1)

Odd1 = cells(5,1)

Whoops!  I made a mistake.  If I keep the two lines above in my code, what I will be doing is setting even1 equal to whatever value there is in cell(row 4, column 1).  Right now that value is zero.  That’s not what I want.  So……..

Cells(4,1) = even1

Cells(5,1) = odd1

That’s  better.  It should work now.

The program will be getting a bit long as we progress so I hesitate to add the complete program after each and every lesson.  This will be the last time I will be adding the complete program.  If in the future you get confused, PM me and I will try to put you back on the right track or I just might PM you with the corrected program.  Who knows?

There are some changes I have not discussed in the program.  See if you can find them.  Anyway, if you did save the previous program and did some fooling around with it, delete it and put the one below in its place.

Question:  Where did the line “GoTo 45” get moved from and where is it now?  Why?

Question:  Why is the variable J declared as Single and not Integer?

 Option Explicit

 Dim SUM1 As Integer

 Dim EVEN1 As Long

 Dim ODD1 As Long

 Dim VAR1 As Integer

 Dim X As Integer

 Dim J As Single

 Dim I As Integer

 Dim count1 As Long

 Dim A(5) ' THIS WILL HOLD THE NUMBER SET UNDER CONSIDEATION

 Dim B(5) ' THIS WILL HOLD SOMETHING ELSE LATER

Public Sub main()

A(1) = 1

A(2) = 2

A(3) = 3

A(4) = 4

A(5) = 4

45

A(5) = A(5) + 1

If A(5) > 39 Then GoTo 50

GoTo 70

50

A(4) = A(4) + 1

If A(4) > 38 Then GoTo 55

A(5) = A(4) + 1

GoTo 70

55

A(3) = A(3) + 1

If A(3) > 37 Then GoTo 60

A(4) = A(3) + 1

A(5) = A(4) + 1

GoTo 70

60

A(2) = A(2) + 1

If A(2) > 5 Then GoTo 65

A(3) = A(2) + 1

A(4) = A(3) + 1

A(5) = A(4) + 1

GoTo 70

65

A(1) = A(1) + 1

If A(1) > 35 Then GoTo 900

A(2) = A(1) + 1

A(3) = A(2) + 1

A(4) = A(3) + 1

A(5) = A(4) + 1

GoTo 70

70

Cells(2, 2) = A(1)

Cells(2, 3) = A(2)

Cells(2, 4) = A(3)

Cells(2, 5) = A(4)

Cells(2, 6) = A(5)

80

count1 = count1 + 1

Cells(2, 7) = count1

'************************************************************

' SUM THE FIVE NUMBERS

SUM1 = 0 ' SET THE VARIABLE TO ZERO.

For X = 1 To 5

SUM1 = SUM1 + A(X)

Next

Cells(2, 9) = SUM1

J = SUM1 / 2

I = Int(J)

Cells(2, 10) = J

Cells(3, 10) = I

If J <> I Then ODD1 = ODD1 + 1

If J = I Then EVEN1 = EVEN1 + 1

Cells(4, 2) = EVEN1

Cells(5, 2) = ODD1

GoTo 45

900

End

End Sub

In running this program to find all the bugs and get rid of them, I discovered something I think is illogical.  There were 171 more odd sums than even sums.  This could not be.  Logic tells me there should be an equal number of odd sums and even sums.

 Try as I might, I can find no bug in the program.  I have posted a thread regarding this discrepancy and hope to get an answer.  Until then, I am assuming there are more odd sums than even sums in a 5/39 game.  Go figure.

Later, guys and gals.

VBA Lesson 1

To avoid confusion in the future, I suggest you close all Excel windows except for the one you will be using for this instruction.  The reason will become evident as we progress.  Also, I suggest you print out this lesson and read it a couple of times before trying anything on your own.  This will help you to understand what you are doing

First open Excel.  I am assuming you are somewhat familiar with the layout so I will not be discussing it here.  Now to get directly to VBA.

To get to programming mode press “alt+f11”

 A whole new window has opened up.  This is where you write your code.

 Now, using your cursor, go to the top of the page.  Click “view” then click “code”  Please do not minimize your screen right now.  All we want to see now is the page that has “Declarations” on the right hand side.  Click on “Declarations”.  Nothing should happen.  Declarations are just one part, the first part on your journey.  Here is where we list all the variables, constants, and other nefarious items you will learn about.  Type or copy and paste the sentence below onto your VBA page.

Dim A(5) ' THIS WILL HOLD THE NUMBER SET UNDER CONSIDEATION

What have we done?  You may well ask.  We have created an array with 5 variables.  Now think of a variable as a dinner plate, an empty dinner plate.  We have created 5 of them, 5 individual dinner plates.  Right now there is nothing in those dinner plates but that will change in a hurry.  Now copy and paste the sentence below onto your VBA page.

Public Sub main()

Wow.  A lot just happened.  A line was drawn across the screen and the words End Sub were added.  That will happen each time we add a sub-procedure to our program.  Don’t worry.  VBA takes care of the housework.

Now we have a Declarations section and a sub procedure section.  I called the first sub procedure “Main” for this is where all the work will be done.  Other sub procedures will contain information to be used by our Main procedure and we will be adding them when the time comes.

The first step we need to take is write a program that will go thru all the possible combinations in the 5/39 game and have those numbers show up on our Excel page.  Here is what we are going to do.  We are going to initialize the A(X) array.  Copy and paste the next few lines onto your VBA page in the sub section “Main”

A(1) = 1

A(2) = 2

A(3) = 3

A(4) = 4

A(5) = 4

I say copy and paste but you should type everything onto your VBA page.  Doing the work trains your fingers to do some of the thinking for you.  But copying and pasting is much easier and faster.  Do what you want.

Notice the A(5) is equal to 4 as is the A(4).  What is up with that?  Well, our very next line will increase the value of A(5) to 5 and put us right where we want to be.  Otherwise we would be wasting computer time considering two 4”s in our number line.  Here are the next lines.  Now these you need to copy and paste.  Paste them just below the “A (5) = 4” line.  You might care to leave a space to make reading the lines easier.

45

A(5) = A(5) + 1

If A (5) > 39 Then GoTo 50

50

A(4) = A(4) + 1

If A(4) > 38 Then GoTo 55

55

A(3) = A(3) + 1

If A(3) > 37 Then GoTo 60

60

A(2) = A(2) + 1

If A(2) > 36 Then GoTo 65

65

A(1) = A(1) + 1

If A(1) > 35 Then GoTo 900

Note the use of line numbers.  This is a hold over from the days of BASIC, QUICKBASIC, GEE-WHIZZ BASIC and all the other BASIC’s out there.  I still use them because they make sense to me.  I understand line numbers better than what passes for line numbers today.  And I use the GOTO statement as well.  Good programmers never use the GOTO statement.  I guess that means I am a poor programmer.  So sue me.

There is one aspect of programming that you should always have.  That is the END word.  So copy and paste the next sentence at the bottom of your MAIN sub procedure but in front of the “End Sub” line

900

End

This tells the computer you have reached the end of the program and control should return to the operator.  Without it, you might find yourself waiting for a program to end when it will never end.  Then you have to re-boot, a time wasting exercise if every there was one.  So always have an END to your program.

We can run the program at this point but you won’t see anything.  Why?  Because we have yet to tell the computer where to put the information so we can see it.  Let’s do that now.

70

Cells(2, 2) = A (1)

Cells(2, 3) = A(2)

Cells(2, 4) = A(3)

Cells(2, 5) = A(4)

Cells(2, 6) = A(5)

The above lines will put values onto our Excel spreadsheet.  Don’t worry if you don’t understand the “Cells(x,y)” concept.  That will come later.

 So how do we run our program.  Click on TOOLS>MACRO>MACRO>RUN

What did you see?  On the second row, in the second columns you see 2 – 3 – 4 – 5- 5.  This is a far cry from going thru all the possible combinations.  The reason.  Our program did not function correctly and here’s why.  The computer reads the first line, does something, then reads the next line.  Unless we send the program off to some other line the computer will blindly drop down to the next line, do something, and drop down to the next line, do something, and so on.  If you study the program beginning at line 45 and then go down the lines, you will see why the computer dropped all the way down to line 900 and End.

So how do we fix this.  Add the following line: GoTo 75 but we have to add it in just the right place.  So the first few lines should read…..

45

A(5) = A(5) + 1

If A(5) > 39 Then GoTo 50

GoTo 75

Keeping this in mind, below is the corrected version of the program.  I suggest you use your finger and trace the operation down each line.  Do this until you understand what is happening.  A lot of bugs are created because we think we did one thing when the computer sees something else and does something else.  Being able to find typing or logical errors is necessary when programming.  Logical errors are difficult to find because even though our eyes see “Cells” and our brain reads “Cells”, we may have spelled  “Cell”.  To a computer the difference is between success and failure

45

A(5) = A(5) + 1

If A(5) > 39 Then GoTo 50

GoTo 70

50

A(4) = A(4) + 1

If A(4) > 38 Then GoTo 55

A(5) = A(4) + 1

GoTo 70

55

A(3) = A(3) + 1

If A(3) > 37 Then GoTo 60

A(4) = A(3) + 1

A(5) = A(4) + 1

GoTo 70

60

A(2) = A(2) + 1

If A(2) > 36 Then GoTo 65

A(3) = A(2) + 1

A(4) = A(3) + 1

A(5) = A(4) + 1

GoTo 70

65

A(1) = A(1) + 1

If A(1) > 35 Then GoTo 900

A(2) = A(1) + 1

A(3) = A(2) + 1

A(4) = A(3) + 1

A(5) = A(4) + 1

GoTo 70

70

Cells(2, 2) = A(1)

Cells(2, 3) = A(2)

Cells(2, 4) = A(3)

Cells(2, 5) = A(4)

Cells(2, 6) = A(5)

GoTo 45

Note the very last line, the “GoTo 45” after cells.  This is to return the program to the beginning.  If we did not have this line the computer would drop down to the next line, which is “END”

You can run this program right now.  I did.  My computer took 35 minutes to run and that was just to go from 1-2-3-4-5 to 35-36-37-38-39 and all points in between.  My computer runs at 2.8 GHz.  What this means is your program will take a minimum of 35 minutes to run.  If your computer takes longer, you have a slower computer.

As we add more things that we want to computer to do, the time will get longer and longer.  Oh, well, it might translate into money if we do this right.

Now for a word about Cells.  We need to have place to put our results.  We want to see the results, right?  Right!  So we put the information in cells on the Excel spreadsheet.  But if you have just a beginner’s knowledge of Excel, you see numbers running down the left side of the spreadsheet and letters running across the top.  The CELLS function takes the arguments row and column.  Look at “Cells(2,6).  What we are telling the computer is “Look in row 2, column 6 and put the information in that particular cell.  We can also get information from a cell.  Look at the format below.

Cells(2, 6) = A(5)  this function will place the value of A(5) into the cell at row 2, column 6.

A(5) = Cells(2, 6)  this function will take the value out of the cell at row 2, column 6 and make A(5) that value.

There will be times when you will need to know what number represents the column.  Right now, there are letters representing the columns.  There is a way to change the letters to numbers.  Click on “TOOLS>OPTION”.  A dialog box will open.  Click on the “GENERAL” tab.  In the upper left hand corner there is a check box. “R1C1 REFERENCE STYLE”.  Click on this box then click “OK”.  Now look at your Excel spreadsheet.  The letters, which once ran across the top of your spreadsheet, have changed into numbers.  Now finding the proper cell to place any future data will be easier to find.

To escape from a program that might be taking longer than you wish, just press the “ESC” key.  A window will pop up asking if you wish to end the program or continue.  Click the appropriate button.

Have fun with this.  I am sure you will encounter some programming problems.  If you get it right the first time, then you should consider a career in programming.  This first thing to check for is spelling.  Make sure all the words are typed correctly. 

In lesson two, we will sum five numbers and determine if the sum is odd or even.  Below is the complete program.

Option Explicit

 Dim A(5) ' THIS WILL HOLD THE NUMBER SET UNDER CONSIDEATION

 Dim B(5)

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Public Sub main()

A(1) = 1

A(2) = 2

A(3) = 3

A(4) = 4

A(5) = 4

45

A(5) = A(5) + 1

If A(5) > 39 Then GoTo 50

GoTo 70

50

A(4) = A(4) + 1

If A(4) > 38 Then GoTo 55

A(5) = A(4) + 1

GoTo 70

55

A(3) = A(3) + 1

If A(3) > 37 Then GoTo 60

A(4) = A(3) + 1

A(5) = A(4) + 1

GoTo 70

60

A(2) = A(2) + 1

If A(2) > 36 Then GoTo 65

A(3) = A(2) + 1

A(4) = A(3) + 1

A(5) = A(4) + 1

GoTo 70

65

A(1) = A(1) + 1

If A(1) > 35 Then GoTo 900

A(2) = A(1) + 1

A(3) = A(2) + 1

A(4) = A(3) + 1

A(5) = A(4) + 1

GoTo 70

70

Cells(2, 2) = A(1)

Cells(2, 3) = A(2)

Cells(2, 4) = A(3)

Cells(2, 5) = A(4)

Cells(2, 6) = A(5)

GoTo 45

900

End

End Sub

    Over in the P5 forum there is a thread dealing with the trials of the non-coders.  It seems most of us do pencil and paper work.  Some of those would like to switch to computers but the time involved in leaning how to do just a few things is too much of a burden on what little time they have each day.  One member has offered to begin VBA lessons on his blog.  I have suggested that he do so; we could use the help.

    I am not a professional VBA programmer by any means.  I know what I want to do and how to do most of it.  Someone (anyone!) with more knowledge than I is welcome to begin such a course.  But if no one has stepped forward by the middle of December, then I am going to tell everyone what little I know and how to program in Excel using VBA.

    There will be a lot I don't know for I am not concerned about pivot tables, drop down boxes, pop up windows, and the like.  All I ask of my programs is find the number set that matches a certain parameter.  This I can do.

    So, let's hope someone with more knowledge than I about Excel comes forth.  Learning from me is the last thing anyone should do but will be better that not learning at all.

    As if switching from ball-drops to RNG wasn't devastating enough to my "research" into finding the perfect system, now the state legislature is considering making it a law that the Tennessee Lottery must be conducted with ball-drops.

    I have erased all my ball-dropped data.  I have nothing to fall back on should this proposed law actually be implemented, I will have to begin at day one.  This is becoming frustrating.

     Tennessee is a wondeful state in which to live.  We have mountains in the east, music in the middle, and Memphis in the west.  What is there wanting?  Just get rid of Rebecca Paul and this state would be perfect.

    Still, I go to Navarre Beach, Florida, on vacations.  Why?

NOOOOO!!!!

    Tonight was the first computer generated drawing for the State of Tennessee.  All I can say is. NOOOOOO!

    All my work is down the drain.  Now I must begin again.

    NOOOOO!

    Until later, good people.  I don't know when I shall return but as that old soldier said many long years ago, when the entire world was lost in despair, "I SHALL RETURN".  ( I think)

    Yes, the lottory is truely random.  I found this out just the other day; rather I should say the truth has beeen re-enforced for the umpteenth time.

    I have been tracking a certain pattern for several weeks now all the while thinking I might be on to something.  Well, that pattern came in last Wednesday night.  All the variables were there.  Yet I did not have the winning numbers.  After due consideration and many, many cups of Waffle House coffee I found my mistake.  And I cried.  My computer program, the one I wrote myself, had a bug, a big bug.  Where's Jack Daniels when you need him!!???

    OK, I told myself. time to re-group and find another direction.  Being ever the optimist I found that "other" direction.

    Now what I am about to write will have absolutely no meaning to them what might read this blog and that is the way it will have to be for the time being.  I am reducing my playing field to the following patterns:

                6-4113

                6-4112

                6-4233

    The total number of lines using the above three patterns sums to 85.   While I do not expect to see any of the above patterns materialize anytime soon I am keeping track of the total number of lines I would have to play until one of the above three patterns arrives.  So, for tonight, July 6, 2007, I would "play" 85 lines.  After tonight, I will update my data base and run the above three patterns again.  I will see new numbers; I will see perhaps less lines, perhaps more lines.  How long I will have to wait until my pattern arrives is anybody's guess.  None of that is the point.  What the point is:  How much will I have invested in Tennessee's P5 game when my pattern does appear?  Will the money investment be something I can afford?  I doubt it.

    Keep your eye on this space.  Chances are another pattern will emerge which I will have to track; another pattern in addition to the three above.  My gremlin is working overtime.

    There is a gremlin resting on my right shoulder.  He is always there; he never sleeps or takes a vacation.  He just sits there waiting for me to try something; anything.  He derives great joy in destroying everything I try and do.  Many have been the times when, suffering great defeat or insufferable embarrassment, I have turned my head toward him and said, "That was a good one.  Way to go."  He is having a grand old time with me and the lottory.

    But I am gaining ground.  Either that or my gremlin is allowing me the temporary pleasure to think I am graining ground. 

    After amassing great quantities of data from various P5 games across this land, my conclusion ( as of this moment ) is that one must pick out one group of patterns and stay with them.  The number sets will change with each draw but the one groups of patterns will stay the same.

    I will stay with this strategy for at least a year.  For those of you who wish to know, I began this on April 25, 2007.  So by April 25, 2008, I should have won the big one (P5 only) at least three times.  But that is according to my calculations.  My gremlin will most definitely have other plans.

    After all the reading I have done one thing, and only one thing, has stood out.  I know I am getting this wrong but who cares?  Certainly not me.  Don't confuse me with facts; my mind is made up.

    On the sub-sub-atomic level, chaos reins supreme.  Physicists today have no clue is what is going on.  All is random, confusing, and unknown.  If that is the case, then how does matter go from being pure chaos to what we see around us today?  Something is going on down there!  What?

    Can this phenomena be translated into a lottory system?  After all, the lottory is random.  The sub-atomic world appears to be just as random.  The two can't be that much different.  And if so, what would the steps be going from pure random to predicted events? 

    While at this time no one knows the answer ( expecially not me ) this should not be a deterent to trying.  So I decided to try.  (Fools rush in where.......you know the rest).

    After due deliberations I have settled on patterns as being the key to "moving on up the ladder".  By this I mean going from random to something a little more concete.  But what would a pattern look like.  I had no clue.  "TO THE INTERNET!!"  I screamed. 

   I googled "lotto chat rooms" and found Lottory Post.  I found other web sites but nothing like LP.  I began learning where all the buttons were.  I read all there was.  I went back to the beginning of the forums and read all that the computer could bring up.  I found more patterns than I expected.  I also found "Mathematics" and did a shudder.  I found "Lottory System" and thought I had found the mother lode. 

    Needless to say I incorpated a few of the patterns people were brave enough to post even tho most of them had merit.  I found that numbers repeated between draws.  I found that there were hot and cold numbers.  And I found a lively discussion of the sum of 5 numbers.  I also found skips, most out, most in, and most in-between.  These I rejected because I didn't understand them.  They were too complex for my tiny brain. 

    So I began.  I programmed my computer to find all the number sets ( I believe others use the word "line".  I like number sets) that had a least one number from the previous draw repeat.  Just tell my how many there were, I told the computer.  I did not want a print out.  There were thousands.

    Was I disappointed?  Sure, but not defeated.  So there were thousands of number lines.  This just told me I needed another pattern.  I went to cold and hot numbers.  At first I used the five coldest and five hotest numbers in conjuction with repeats and hit the computer again.

    While there were fewer number lines, there were still way too many for my meager income to support.  Being on Social Security does that to one's bank account.  Thankfully everthing is paid for.  All I have to worry about is taxes.  So I went back to musing over my next move.

    The sum of five numbers seemed like a good bet so I did some "research".  While the sums fell between 80 and 120 a lot of times, there were still exceptions.  These exceptions were severe enough to cause me to pause.  There had to be a better way.  I am not sure if what I eventually came to use is better but it is the one I am using right now.  Is the sum odd or even?  Forget what the sum is numerically; just keep the odd or even in mind for the moment.  If the sum is odd, the total number sets available becomes 50% of the total.  Likewise for even.  "Hey!" I said to myself so no one would think I was going senile, "I have reduced the playing field by 50%!" 

    At the time this seemed like a monentous event.  After programming my computer and finding the total number sets that 1) had at least one number from the previous draw, 2) and one cold and one hot number, and 3) was either odd or even, the sky fell on me.  I was quickly disappointed.  Still way too many number sets to play and I could not be assured the winning number was among those number sets.

    Now for a brief word about when I do my thinking.  I will not delve into how I think for that would only expose my high level of insanity.  I am trying to keep that part of me a deep, dark secret.  Just thinking there might be a way to predict the next 5 numbers out of the lotto drum is insane enough.

    Most of my family lives two hundred miles away.  I go to see them twice a month.  During that 3 hour drive I think only about lotto patterns or how to use the ones I have to better affect.  More on all of this later.

    So if there is no mathmatical way to determine the next draw, is there another way to do something else?

    I went to my local bookstore (Davis_Kidd) and looked over their selection of astromonical books.  Not being anything approaching a mathmetician, I needed to find me a good book written for the layman.  I found "Physics For Dummies" and bought it.  The book was written for me; I just knew it.

     I read the book twice.  Once would have been enough but if you are a dummy like me you think there MUST have been something you missed. Nope!  I got it all.  And I did not understand one word of it!

    So I got me another one; and another; and another.  In all I have about fifty books about the heavens, the atom, particle accelerators, the square root of minus 1, Kepler, Bohr, and I am not one iota smarter than before I spent all that money and did all that reading.  Oh, well, another dead end.

    One night, while surfing the Web, I  stumbled upon Lottory Post.  I read all the posts.  I kept up with what was being said for a couple of weeks.  I decided to join; if for no other reason than to bring more confusion into "The Discussion".  I think I have more than succeeded.  If you will note, I have very few comments posted here.  One reason is that when I do add a comment that particular conversation comes to an abrupt and sudden halt.  I became paranoid.  What was I saying that turned people off? 

    So I became a "reader" more so than a "poster".

I like the idea of developing a system to help me win a jackpot.  The knowledge that such a system is impossible can not deter me.  I am one of those people who know that what I feel is more correct than what I know.  Having said that, let us begin.

Which game to play; that is the question.  Pick 3 has odds of 1 to 1000.  Pick 4 has odds of 1 to 10,000.  Pick 5 has odds of 1 to 575,757.  Powerball/Mega Millions has odds of 1 to impossible. 

Putting odds aside for the moment, let's look at the jackpots.  In P3, I could win $500 if I were to pick the 3 correct numbers.  P4 would give me $5000.  So what are my chances of picking the correct number sequence?  My chances are zero; your chances might be different.  I know my life and my life experiences tell me that I will never pick the right combination without a whole lot of help ( or luck).  Knowing this I have decided to go for the big money; I wll go for the P5 game.  Then when I do hit, there will be a jackpot worth having.

Right from the get-go, I have to make a decision.  Do I want to reduce the "playing field" to, say, 7 numbers ( or 10, or 20, or 25 numbers)?  This seems to be the right path to follow and so I took; the road less traveled as far as I was concerned.

 Back in 1995, this is the way I went.  I spent three years trying to reduce the playing field to no avail.  No matter what I did there never occurred the first instance of a reduced playing field possessing the five winning numbers.  I substracted three; added two; multiplied by Pi.  I took the first three numbers, summed them, the divided that sum by the sum of the last two numbers.  This gave me a ratio.  I programmed my computer to find all the combination that produced the ratio I thought would appear in the next draw.  Forty reams of paper later, I realized there was no way to predict with any degree of certainty the future ratio.  So I went back to the drawing board.

I learned a lot from those three years.  I learned there is no mathmatical way to determine what the next draw will bring.  I learned the true meaning of the word "random".  I learned that only fools think they can develop a system to win the lottory.  Being such a fool, I continued on.