July 13th, 2010 at 5:34:20 PM
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Quote:BISHOP, Texas – The odds that Joan Ginther would hit four Texas Lottery jackpots for a combined nearly $21 million are astronomical. Mathematicians say the chances are as slim as 1 in 18 septillion — that's 18 and 24 zeros
Assuming that's right, what other events fall in that range of improbability?
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There's no secret. Just know what you're talking about before you open your mouth.
July 13th, 2010 at 6:14:03 PM
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Quote: rxwineAssuming that's right, what other events fall in that range of improbability?
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As they explain, you can't just take the odds of winning once and then multiplying them. Because that would be going 4 for 4 on 4 tickets. Remember, when we say you have a 1 in Ten Million chance, that assumes one ticket. This woman strikes me as someone who probably plays thousands of dollars worth of tickets a day. Plus once she won the first time, she had quite a nest egg to buy millions of dollars in tickets.
July 14th, 2010 at 1:40:08 PM
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I have never heard of any human activity that has probabilities like that.
The 154 record number of rolls in Craps set last year was 1 : 5,590,264,072 which is only 10 digits. For craps it would be a whopping 505-506 times in a row to get to 18 septillion.
You would have to be talking about quantum or astronomical calculations.
The important thing is that the odds do drop considerably for someone habitually buying tickets for decades. Even to say they drop considerably could still leave them extremely high.
The 154 record number of rolls in Craps set last year was 1 : 5,590,264,072 which is only 10 digits. For craps it would be a whopping 505-506 times in a row to get to 18 septillion.
You would have to be talking about quantum or astronomical calculations.
The important thing is that the odds do drop considerably for someone habitually buying tickets for decades. Even to say they drop considerably could still leave them extremely high.