odds of winning

Reply #4

savagegoose — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 08:30:21 GMT

where you quote 39x38x37

that is correct if you want to get the exact order of drawn numbers, ie 1st ball drawn is a 5, it is indeed 1 in 39, but if the order isnt important then there are 5/39 odds for 1st ball. and then 4/38 for second ball. 3 of 37 balls. etc.

math is something like, 39x38x37x36x35 / 5x4x3x2x1

Reply #3

johnph77 — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:25:51 GMT

The reasoning behind this is, when one picks 5 numbers out of a pool, there are 120 different ways in which those 5 numbers can be picked, ranging from 1-2-3-4-5 to 5-4-3-2-1, hence the game odds are calculated as (39x38x37x36x35)/(1x2x3x4x5). That formula yields 575,757.

Pick 10 is far more complicated, since 10 different games are being played from one draw.

Reply #2

Raven62 — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:58:17 GMT

How To Calculate Odds

Lottery Post Forums Search is Your Friend:

https://www.lotterypost.com/search/forums?q='calculate+odds' t=all

Reply #1

Todd — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:56:36 GMT

odds of winning

Gomar — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:29:57 GMT

As a new lottery player, I'd like to calculate the odds of winning. Each NYLottery game has posted

odds, however, my calculations give different odds. Perhaps I am not doing it right, or

they use a different method, but here are my results compared to theirs:

If we use #'s 0-9, and pick one number, then odds of winning are 1 in 10. Thus, I just have to

buy 10 tickets, play all numbers, and will get a winner 100%.

If 3 numbers are picked, then it's 10x10x10, or 000-999, thus 1:1000... [ More ]