NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm curious as to this forum's take on this query taken from somewhere else on the net:

Does buying two lottery tickets double your chances of winning? In other words, if the odds are 14 million to 1 with one ticket will they be reduced to 7 million to 1 with two tickets?

Now, I has thought the answer was pretty obvious this but since it prompted some surprisingly viscous debate (considering it's maths) I thought I'd throw it out over here. Do me proud NSG.

Assuming you pick different numbers.

I suddenly had a mental image of someone buying, like, a hundred lottery tickets, but having the same numbers on every one.

I'm curious as to this forum's take on this query taken from somewhere else on the net:

Does buying two lottery tickets double your chances of winning? In other words, if the odds are 14 million to 1 with one ticket will they be reduced to 7 million to 1 with two tickets?

Now, I has thought the answer was pretty obvious this but since it prompted some surprisingly viscous debate (considering it's maths) I thought I'd throw it out over here. Do me proud NSG.

The debate had a fairly high resistance to flow?

Yep.

Assuming you pick different numbers.

I assume so, yes. With two tickets, you have 2 in 14 million chance-thus, 1 in 7 million.
I can do maths, me!


Well, actually, I can't, I got a B in GCSE maths. Just, I think.

Yeah, all this proves is that I stumbled on the internet equivilent of the video from that 'people are stupid' thread.

Although I was secretly hoping someone would pipe up with: "but how can ONE ticket get rid of 7,000,000 combinations??" and start a bitter argument but alas it looks like the forum isn't completely brain dead.

Sorry. Besides the fact that posting with the intent to incite a riot is sort of frowned upon by the Mods (go figure), we've gotten kind of jaded lately. You'd need something like "If Pres. Bush buys two lottery tickets does Mahmoud Ahmaninejad"s mother fall in the forest and does she make a sound? And if so, teh gAyZ are teh EBil!"

Buying two lottery tickets aborts baby pandas.

Yeah, all this proves is that I stumbled on the internet equivilent of the video from that 'people are stupid' thread.

Although I was secretly hoping someone would pipe up with: "but how can ONE ticket get rid of 7,000,000 combinations??" and start a bitter argument but alas it looks like the forum isn't completely brain dead.

Sorry. Besides the fact that posting with the intent to incite a riot is sort of frowned upon by the Mods (go figure), we've gotten kind of jaded lately. You'd need something like "If Pres. Bush buys two lottery tickets does Mahmoud Ahmaninejad"s mother fall in the forest and does she make a sound? And if so, teh gAyZ are teh EBil!"

Sorry. Besides the fact that posting with the intent to incite a riot is sort of frowned upon by the Mods (go figure), we've gotten kind of jaded lately. You'd need something like "If Pres. Bush buys two lottery tickets does Mahmoud Ahmaninejad"s mother fall in the forest and does she make a sound? And if so, teh gAyZ are teh EBil!"

But politics are meant to make people angry - it's a very passionate topic. Rage over Bush is ten a penny but seeing people lose it over maths is a wee bit rarer.

Buying two lottery tickets aborts baby pandas.

Getting there. Every time you buy more than one lottery ticket, God kills a kitten.

But politics are meant to make people angry - it's a very passionate topic. Rage over Bush is ten a penny but seeing people lose it over maths is a wee bit rarer.

Very true. How about ... "If Bush proposes that the lottery tickets of US citizens with incomes over $1,000,000 count twice in the drawing, thereby doubling their chances ... or would their chances be doubled?"

Getting there. Every time you buy more than one lottery ticket, God kills a kitten.

Buying three lottery tickets is a calling for the rapture and can only be saved by genocide of gays and liberals and non whites whilst forcing woman into slavery and getting abortion clinics to be blown up?

numbers make my head go fizzy. and not in a good way.

No.

And it's a very hard problem. So go away.

numbers make my head go fizzy. and not in a good way.

Muwahaha, all your lottery tickets are belonging to us! Math as a weapon of mass destruction: "Release all your prisoners or we'll post hideous mathematical conundrums on your subway walls and tenement halls."

:D

I'm curious as to this forum's take on this query taken from somewhere else on the net:

Does buying two lottery tickets double your chances of winning? In other words, if the odds are 14 million to 1 with one ticket will they be reduced to 7 million to 1 with two tickets?

Now, I has thought the answer was pretty obvious this but since it prompted some surprisingly viscous debate (considering it's maths) I thought I'd throw it out over here. Do me proud NSG.
Ok... maths isn't my strongest suit... but...

The two tickets are mutually exclusive. If one ticket wins, then the other ticket can't.

So wouldn't the odds be something like one ticket at 1/14^6 and the other at 1/-1+14^6 making for total odds of just a little bit better than 1 in 7 million assuming that both tickets had totally different numbers.

I assume so, yes. With two tickets, you have 2 in 14 million chance-thus, 1 in 7 million.
I can do maths, me!


Well, actually, I can't, I got a B in GCSE maths. Just, I think.

You only put the disclaimer in so anyone replying would be discouraged.. :p

Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that YOU *can* do maths. Unfortunately, your probability skills suck big time..

For the rest of you, come on, this is basic probability just with bigger numbers.. There is, however, a caveat (isn't there always). First, we need to understand that the probability of 2 different 6 number combinations winning the lottery are MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE events.. (for the purposes of different here, even one digit suffices to render the cards different - not as some in this thread have claimed as 6 different numbers).

Definition of a mutually exclusive event

If event A happens, then event B cannot, or vice-versa. The two events "it rained on Tuesday" and "it did not rain on Tuesday" are mutually exclusive events. When calculating the probabilities for exclusive events you _*ADD*_ the probabilities.

So, the odds are 1/14000000 + 1/14000000 = 2/1400000 or 1/7000000

The real caveat though is that although you "double" your chances, the dent on the probability of NOT winning that you make is so infestinimally small, that God doesn't kill a kitten. At the most, he simply tweezers one hair from the end of the tail. Really quite painless. I mean, come on(!) the kitten sheds 700 lottery tickets by itself in a day (this is why we have roll-overs). :headbang:

beats me. all i know is that im going to buy a lottery ticket tomorrow.

240million.

I'm curious too. Wanna experiment?

Yeah, all this proves is that I stumbled on the internet equivilent of the video from that 'people are stupid' thread.

Although I was secretly hoping someone would pipe up with: "but how can ONE ticket get rid of 7,000,000 combinations??" and start a bitter argument but alas it looks like the forum isn't completely brain dead.

so they were OK with the idea that if one ticket was 1 in 14,000,000 then 2 tickets were 2 in 14,000,000 but NOT with reducing that to 2 tickets giving you a 1 in 7,000,000 chance?

I'm curious too. Wanna experiment?

Tell you what. Why don't you but one ticket this week, and two tickets next week, and I'll bet you $10 that you lose both times.

I'm curious as to this forum's take on this query taken from somewhere else on the net:

Does buying two lottery tickets double your chances of winning? In other words, if the odds are 14 million to 1 with one ticket will they be reduced to 7 million to 1 with two tickets?

Now, I has thought the answer was pretty obvious this but since it prompted some surprisingly viscous debate (considering it's maths) I thought I'd throw it out over here. Do me proud NSG.

...this question prompted debate?
What idiot thought that if his chaces were 1 in 14 million that by making them 2 in 14 million would cut his odds in half?

Go back to this other board and advise them on the dangers of sniffing paint.

Tell you what. Why don't you but one ticket this week, and two tickets next week, and I'll bet you $10 that you lose both times.

That's not the kind of experiment I meant :(

Muwahaha, all your lottery tickets are belonging to us! Math as a weapon of mass destruction: "Release all your prisoners or we'll post hideous mathematical conundrums on your subway walls and tenement halls."

:D

Weapons of Math destruction?

Weapons of Math destruction?

:eek: Aaarrgghhh! I should have thought of that! :D

I'm curious as to this forum's take on this query taken from somewhere else on the net:

Does buying two lottery tickets double your chances of winning? In other words, if the odds are 14 million to 1 with one ticket will they be reduced to 7 million to 1 with two tickets?

Now, I has thought the answer was pretty obvious this but since it prompted some surprisingly viscous debate (considering it's maths) I thought I'd throw it out over here. Do me proud NSG.It depends on how the lottery is constructed. If there are 14 million tickets, and one of them will win, than buying two doubles your chance of having the winning ticket.

Another option is that there are X tickets sold (variable X), and one of those will win. In that case you're chance of winning goes from 1 in X to 2 in (x+1), which is slightly les sthan doubling.

Yet another option is that you have to pick numbers, and picking the right numbers will get you to win. Now in that case, the number of tickets doesn't matter, but of course other people might have picked the same numbers.

Then there's the possibility that you can win multiple prizes, in which case one has to wonder what exactly you mean in the question.

It depends on how the lottery is constructed. If there are 14 million tickets, and one of them will win, than buying two doubles your chance of having the winning ticket.

Another option is that there are X tickets sold (variable X), and one of those will win. In that case you're chance of winning goes from 1 in X to 2 in (x+1), which is slightly les sthan doubling.

Yet another option is that you have to pick numbers, and picking the right numbers will get you to win. Now in that case, the number of tickets doesn't matter, but of course other people might have picked the same numbers.

Then there's the possibility that you can win multiple prizes, in which case one has to wonder what exactly you mean in the question.

See I always knew maths was crap, if you can use it to prove it either way. Yeah maths is non condtradictory my arse.:D