Another lottery question

[anon125]

How do i with excel 2002 determine if all 6 lottery numbers have been won more than once?
Same for 5 of 6 numbers.
As you know the data increases after every draw. So naming the data field has to accommodate this.
Thanks all

 

[anon125]

Admin, how do i delete this post as nobody has answered it

 

[Marc L]

​

At least with a good enough elaboration and with an attachment accordingly - what any forum expects for in the initial post ! - you will get answer​

as a reminder this is an Excel site and very not some mind readers forum …​

 

[anon125]

Marc L
let me know what you did not understand.
seemed clear to me.
hope you feel less grumpy soon
i can send a zip of the data if this forum accepts it

 

[anon125]

i would think this is self explanatory.
how often does each row of red numbers appear in the data.

 

[Rick Rothstein]

Marc L
let me know what you did not understand.
seemed clear to me.
hope you feel less grumpy soon
i can send a zip of the data if this forum accepts it

Marc was not being grumpy, rather, he was trying to coax you into giving us enough information to work with. Perhaps the following which I have posted in the past will help you to see what Marc was asking you for...

Please Note
-------------------
One thing you must keep in mind when you ask a question in a forum... the people you are asking to help you know absolutely nothing about your data, absolutely nothing about how it is laid out in the workbook, absolutely nothing about what you want done with it and absolutely nothing about how whatever it is you want done is to be presented back to you as a result... you must be very specific about describing each of these areas, in detail, and you should not assume that we will be able to "figure it out" on our own. Remember, you are asking us for help... so help us to be able to help you by providing the information we need to do so, even if that information seems "obvious" to you (remember, it is only obvious to you because of your familiarity with your data). To sum up... we only know what you tell us, nothing more.

 

[Joe4]

Out of curiosity, what is the purpose here?
Is it to try to determine if there is some sort of bias in the results?

The reason I ask is because many people think they can "beat" the Lotto system by trying to analyze the results, and see if certain combinations comes up more than others. But just because some results appears more than once does not necessarily mean that there is any sort pattern or inherent bias. It would have to appear a significant number of times to be considered outside of the norm.

This can be displayed in a simple example. Let's say that you have a die that has numbers 1 through 6. If it is a regular die, the odds of rolling any number is 1/6. However, than does not necessarily mean that if you roll it 6 times, you will roll each number exactly once (1,2,3,4,5,6, in any order). As matter as fact, there is less than a 1% chance that you will do so (1/120). If one number showed up 2 or even 3 times, that does not mean that number is necessarily more inclined to show up. it is just how random odds work.

In a nutshell, if your goal is to try to "beat the Lotto system" by trying to use past results to predict the future, you are probably wasting your time.

 

[anon125]

If the numbers have never one twice then that set of number probably wont win again so do not choose them.

 

[Joe4]

If the numbers have never one twice then that set of number probably wont win again so do not choose them.

In a truly random situation with no bias, that is a false statement.

Think about it. That is like saying if I roll a dice six times, and the number 4 does not show up, it probably won't show up so I won't guess it.
The truth is that the number 4 has exactly the same chance of showing up as any other number (1/6).

As matter as fact, the odds are that MOST combinations will not show up in your samples.
In looking at your examples, it looks like maybe you are choosing from numbers 1-48, with numbers only being allowed to appear once within the 6 number selected.
If that is true, you have over 8,835,488,640 possible combinations (that is over 8 trillion possible comibinations!).
That means even if you had 80 million samples, you would still have less than 1% of the total possible combinations.
So the vast number of possible combinations would not show up in your list.

The only way your assertion works, is if there was good reason to believe that it is actually not random, and there is "bias" built-in. But that is not how lotteries typically work.
If there is a bias, it would most likely be because someone put it there, in which in case, people would know about it and then use it to their advantag (and you would see the same people winning over and over again).

Just like flipping a coin, past results have no impact on future results. You can pick any combination you want, and it has exactly the same odds as any other combination anyone else comes up with. Unless you have a legitimate reason to expect bias, you are wasting your time trying to predict future results based on past results.

 

[Fluff]

Cross-posting (posting the same question in more than one forum) is not against our rules, but the method of doing so is covered by #13 of the Forum Rules.

Be sure to follow & read the link at the end of the rule too!

Cross posted at: Excel 2002 Check if all six numbers have won before
If you have posted the question at more places, please provide links to those as well.

If you do cross-post in the future and also provide links, then there shouldn’t be a problem.