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I never buy lottery tickets, it just doesn't make any sense to me. People know their chances of winning are negligible but hope springs eternal as they say and so they buy based on hope alone. They ignore logic.
If I said to you, give me $2 and I will insure you against getting struck by lightning. If you get struck, I will pay you $50 million. Would you think that insurance was worth paying me even $2 or would you figure I was going to make a lot of money from suckers stupid enough to pay me.
If I suggested you pick the numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 for your lottery ticket, would you think those were as good a choice as any for your ticket? If not, why not? All the numbers have exactly the same chance of coming up after all.
When you see them talking about the lottery odds of 292 million to 1 on TV, that really doesn't tell anyone anything. That's a number people simply cannot comprehend in their head. Studies have shown that for most people, any number much larger than their annual income is a number they can't really put into perspective.
So here is my question for all our mathematically inclined posters here. How would you describe the chances of winning the lotter to someone in a way they can comprehend? Telling them the odds are 292 million to 1 is pointless, you have to put it in a way they will understand.