Actually, it is. You buy 2 tickets, your odds of winning are now 2:1,000,000, which is 1:500,000. That's why I always buy multiple tickets if I'm playing It would be completely different if you bought one ticket each week for two weeks.

To calculate the risk of flooding, you have to look at the chances of NOT flooding, which is 99%. To go 50 years without a flood is .99^50, or about 60%. That means you have about a 40% chance of a flood in any of those 50 years. I think. It's been a while so my math is fuzzy. If you really want to know probabilites and statistics, the best people to ask aren't statisticans, ask a gambler. They're like human statistic calculators.

Anyway, I think that's drifting away from the original point. One thing that isn't factored into the risk assesment is the severity of the consequences. Two families might both have the same risk of power outages, but if one is in northern Canada in the middle of winter, they have more to worry about than someone living in California.

If your single lottery ticket has say 49 numbers and the winning number sequence is 6 numbers in length the odds of winning are 49!/((49-6)! x 6!) = 13,983,816 to 1 odds.

If a second lottery ticket is purchased with a different winning sequence then all that has happened is that you have purchased another 6 number sequence reducing your odds to (49!/((49-6)! x 6!))-1 = 13,983,815 to 1 odds

If the aim was to get a 5 number winning sequence from 49 numbers then the odds of winning are 49!/((49-5)! x 5!) = 1,906,884 to 1 odds

Actually what you are better of doing is ensuring that if you place a single line i.e. a single $1 bet with odds of say 13,983,816 at least make sure the winning pot of money total is actually greater than the probability of winning and then only placing just the single 1$ bet. i.e. if the pot rolls over.

"IMHO every able bodied male should own one in order to come to the defense of those less able to take care of themselves. They (guns) are just one of the tools that I think every man should own."

OH... REALLY ???!!!

And what about the other half of the population?

What happens if DaddyO isn't home?

Please allow me to embellish your statement a bit:

IMHO every able bodied person over the age of 10 should own, and be trained in the use and safety of, a firearm, so they can take care of themselves and those who set their weapon down to fix dinner or change a tire.

HOWZAT?

Sue

I am a statistics major but rusty....that is why I asked if the original post was modeled on a Poisson distribution..can you ask your colleague if that is what he did?

Thanks

You go, girl! I've always considered the females of our species to be potentially far more dangerous than the males, given the proper motivation.

Jeff

PMS??????

Yes... REALLY!!!

I knew (unfortunately) that someone would take my statement as a comprehensive statement of who should/shouldn't own a firearm and let it get under their skin. It was not meant in that way and I certainly did not want to offend anyone but (to be perfectly honest) I get tired of trying to make everything so PC as not to offend anyone on the planet.

Susan, I apologize if the statement bothered you. It was not meant in the way you received it.

I'll crawl back under my rock now since I am obviously not cut out for online conversations.

Think finding yourself between a sow Grizzly and her cubs. Or Shakespeare. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

Jeff

My ROI (return on investment) in lottery tickets is immediate. I just enjoy the fun of thinking about winning. It's a way to daydream away a long, boring drive, for example. I have zero expectation of actually winning.

Jeff

Heh - he wasn't even going that fast, he was just unlucky, or sking over his head (ow, bad pun, but I'll leave it)

I used to downhill - only local club racing, but still. 60+MPH on skis is "fast" One day (the year after my worst fall) I was sking along at the fastest part of the run, and the little voice inside my head said "this is nuts", and I came up out of the crouch - the coach said he knew it was over for me at that instant

(BTW - worst fall - went down at 60MPH, and bounced for at least 100 yds - the called for a litter before I stopped bouncing! I walked away, I was VERY luck I didn't hit anything, but slid straight down the middle of the run. Nothing broken, but I think the only parts of me that weren't black and blue the next day were the soles of my feet, and my eyelids)