If you want to play a pick 5 and have 5 numbers, placement of the numbers is not needed you just place them from lowest to highest or anyway that you want, if they all show up, then you win.
If you have 4 or fewer digits, then placement by position might be needed, for example if you have 4 numbers and 5 positions for a cash 5, you might want to know in which of the 5 positions to place the 4 numbers and in this way, you just need to "Fill-In" the number of one of the positions, once you know in which of the positions you need to make-up a number it might be easier to figure out the range or width of the numbers from which to pick a number, that might be based on which combination or combinations of the many that have those 4 numbers is the more likely to come out based on whatever criteria a person uses, such as due or overdue sum or digit or whatever else or a combination of facts.
Let us see an easier example to follow:
A Pick 4/25 = 12,650 combinations-lines
And you in some way have or got these 3 numbers:
4 16 23,
3 Numbers, but 4 positions 1 2 3 4, How to best place them?
X-04-16-23
04-X-16-23
04-16-X-23
04-16-23-X
Pick 1 of the 4 patterns based on some kind of stats or prediction technique
Or
Use all 4 of them and pick a number or numbers to put in place of the X based on some kind of stats and or prediction technique(s).
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Perhaps these 2 patterns:
04-X-16-23, X= equals from 5 to 15 Maybe this one(?)
04-16-X-23 , X = equals from 17 to 21
The stats might show which of those numbers might have the best chance to show.
But maybe nothing can be for sure, a guess is just a guess.
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There is much more, but I don't want to talk about it, for obvious reasons, such as parimutual payouts.
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if we had more than 4 numbers to place and or wheel, well, there are other options for that, one of them is using some kind of wheeler and use whatever options you want to use that it might have, if it is a wheeler that has filters then even better.