• Hi All

    Please note that at the Chandoo.org Forums there is Zero Tolerance to Spam

    Post Spam and you Will Be Deleted as a User

    Hui...

  • When starting a new post, to receive a quicker and more targeted answer, Please include a sample file in the initial post.

Lottery Question

B

bfree7953

New Member
Hi all,

Is there a way to compile all of the data from past lottery winnings with different formulas, such as.. Picking 5 numbers, 1-75, finding the number that repeats the most for each column and then also finding the number that repeats the most based on the column prior. Ex.. first number is mostly 5, what does the 2nd column, 3rd column.. etc represent based on the most repeated number of the previous column.

Thanks for the help!!
 
If you could get your hands on it, i doubt whether it could provide you with any actionable intelligence - if it were possible to "game" the lottery, it would not be a lottery .....
 
Hi David ,

That is a matter for dispute.

If a lottery result is by a person physically drawing numbers from a set , then what you say is correct , because the numbers are drawn in a random fashion , and can never be predicted by any means ; either you are lucky or you are not.

But if the result of a lottery is being output by a machine , then it may be random , but even an algorithm for outputting random numbers is never outputting truly random numbers , since what is being output is the result of an algorithm , which means the output can be predicted , in the sense that over a long enough period of time , the same output will be repeated. In other words , some numbers are more likely to be output than others.

Thus , getting the output right is a matter of getting at the algorithm which is behind the number generation.

Data analysis does not cost one anything other than time and effort , but imagine if you could spend the next 10 years working on something , which at the end of those 10 years could give you 100 million dollars ; would you or would you not spend those 10 years in trying to crack the system ?

Narayan
 
NARAYANK991 said:
Hi David ,

That is a matter for dispute.

If a lottery result is by a person physically drawing numbers from a set , then what you say is correct , because the numbers are drawn in a random fashion , and can never be predicted by any means ; either you are lucky or you are not.

But if the result of a lottery is being output by a machine , then it may be random , but even an algorithm for outputting random numbers is never outputting truly random numbers , since what is being output is the result of an algorithm , which means the output can be predicted , in the sense that over a long enough period of time , the same output will be repeated. In other words , some numbers are more likely to be output than others.

Thus , getting the output right is a matter of getting at the algorithm which is behind the number generation.

Data analysis does not cost one anything other than time and effort , but imagine if you could spend the next 10 years working on something , which at the end of those 10 years could give you 100 million dollars ; would you or would you not spend those 10 years in trying to crack the system ?

Narayan
Click to expand...
@NARAYANK991 :) Well said Sir
 
NARAYANK991 said:
Hi David ,

That is a matter for dispute.

If a lottery result is by a person physically drawing numbers from a set , then what you say is correct , because the numbers are drawn in a random fashion , and can never be predicted by any means ; either you are lucky or you are not.

But if the result of a lottery is being output by a machine , then it may be random , but even an algorithm for outputting random numbers is never outputting truly random numbers , since what is being output is the result of an algorithm , which means the output can be predicted , in the sense that over a long enough period of time , the same output will be repeated. In other words , some numbers are more likely to be output than others.

Thus , getting the output right is a matter of getting at the algorithm which is behind the number generation.

Data analysis does not cost one anything other than time and effort , but imagine if you could spend the next 10 years working on something , which at the end of those 10 years could give you 100 million dollars ; would you or would you not spend those 10 years in trying to crack the system ?

Narayan
Click to expand...

The US Lottery is based on 69 balls being blown around and flying out in a random order. I can safely say it is not possible to model it - if it were, it would need more intellectual and computing horsepower than a one person with Excel and a PC.

The UK has long used an "Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment" (ERNIE to his mates) to select the winning numbers of its Premium Bond drawings - to my knowledge, none have succeeded in cracking this algorithm, even though its been out there for some time.

As to your suggestion that 10 years effort "might" result in $100^6 I suspect you may have forgotten to include the number of folks needed to help in this endeavor - cracking Enigma took thousands of individuals and it didn't solely rely on a mathematical solution - they used deduction and intuition of a large number of very intelligent women who were liberal arts scholars. SUM the number of folks to help at, say $100^3 per annum and that prize money doesn't look quite as large (Oh - and I think you're helpers would want to be paid up front, and not wait to split the prize money with you ...:eek:)

So to conclude, I can only suggest that your imagination is too vivid in this case, but if I have maligned you, please accept my apologies and my best wishes with your lottery challenge. As soon as you've got that done, you might want to solve Riemann's Hypothesis? Sadly, for the latter, you'll only get $10^6 but you will enter the Mathematics Hall of Fame. :awesome:

By the way, something that you could model, if you could get your hands on the data, is the frequency of numbers played, as that is not random. Playing the numbers not normally selected, would you give you an advantage, but again, I've yet to be convinced that the effort would be worth it ...
 
NARAYANK991 said:
Hi David ,

That is a matter for dispute.

If a lottery result is by a person physically drawing numbers from a set , then what you say is correct , because the numbers are drawn in a random fashion , and can never be predicted by any means ; either you are lucky or you are not.

But if the result of a lottery is being output by a machine , then it may be random , but even an algorithm for outputting random numbers is never outputting truly random numbers , since what is being output is the result of an algorithm , which means the output can be predicted , in the sense that over a long enough period of time , the same output will be repeated. In other words , some numbers are more likely to be output than others.

Thus , getting the output right is a matter of getting at the algorithm which is behind the number generation.

Data analysis does not cost one anything other than time and effort , but imagine if you could spend the next 10 years working on something , which at the end of those 10 years could give you 100 million dollars ; would you or would you not spend those 10 years in trying to crack the system ?

Narayan
Click to expand...
Exactly my mindset! I couldn't have described that any better. It's mostly just for fun. I don't expect to win 100 million dollars of course, just wanting to see if I can play with the numbers! Thanks!
 
@NARAYANK991 sir, please pardon my ignorance. My doubt is, even if someone succeeds at cracking the algo say after 10 years of hard work.

Chances are, the algo to generate winning number might have change over period of time.

Though, thoroughly enjoyed reading your reply (as always). Good night. :)
 
NARAYANK991 said:
Hi David ,

No offence taken ; but you might want to read this :

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2011/02/02/statistician-cracked-lottery.html

Narayan
Click to expand...

That's a somewhat different "game" from what I was describing, however, it no longer exists - it was found to be flawed and that does not sit well with the operators of such schemes.

One visit to Las Vegas or Macau will very quickly convince you that "gaming" is stacked in favor of the game operator, whether it be Government or Private Corporation. If Probability theory doesn't convince you, contemplating who paid for those Temples of Greed will.
 
NARAYANK991 said:
Hi ,

Can you upload your data , and then specify the kind of analysis that you want to make ?

Narayan
Click to expand...
I want to see the most recurring number for each column and if possible, if there's a translation from one column to the next.. Such as, if the 1st column provides us a 5 for the most common number, is there a correlation that the next column is more statistically a 3?.. Kind of like that. Hope that makes sense.
 

Attachments

  • Lottery Numbers.xls
    112 KB · Views: 12
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top