[Spridgets] The Lottery - off topic

Tim Collins thcollin at mtu.edu
Fri Apr 1 07:59:34 MST 2011


No April foolery stuff here, but scratch your head about this. . .

The news media is making a big deal about the lottery winner who 
stepped out of line to get a candy bar and then someone stepped in 
liine ahead of him. The insinuation is that had the guy not cut in 
line, the candy bar guy would not have won. I believe this is a false 
concept mathematically because every play of the lottery is random. I 
believe that the media is leading people astray in the mathematical 
reasoning behind this situation. It does make for good stories about 
not cutting in line and being a good citizen, but I don't believe the 
math supports the media story.

To me this is like stepping to the counter, a new deck of cards is 
opened, shuffled, and I get to pick a card. When the guy behind me 
has his turn, a new deck is opened, shuffled and a card given to him. 
There's no connection between my number and his. Or my place in line, 
or the day of the week or . . . anything. We just want to organize "random."

My wife says I'm wrong. LOL What do you say?


Tim Collins
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12702006@N07/sets/ 


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