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"If you have two seven-digit numbers with an identical sequence, the probability is [...] roughly one in 282 billion. And when you factor in [...] the probabili
by Evgeny 17y ago
"If you have two seven-digit numbers with an identical sequence, the probability is [...] roughly one in 282 billion. And when you factor in [...] the probability approaches zero"
I would say that one in 282 billion is already damn close to zero ...
- RyanGWU82 17y agoThe probability stated in the article is incorrect. I have no idea how the mathematics professor calculated his odds, but they're not correct. A collision happens any time two seven-digit numbers are identical. They don't both have to be 3511587. They could have just as easily been 3511586, for example. If the lottery ticket contains a 7-digit number and only the digits 1-9 are allowed, then the probability of a collision is 1 in 9^7, or roughly 1 in 4.8 million. Of course, I agree with the commenter above who hypothesized that it wasn't truly random chance; the "current time as random seed" sounds awfully likely.
- eli 17y agoWell, it's two numbers that are identical ... and also happen to be winning. So, basically it's the odds of three ticket numbers being the same -- the two purchased plus the winning selection.