Is this an article or an attempt to harvest paycheck information?
If it is, it is going to be skewed. I just put in $292,201,338 (the 1 in .... odds for the jackpot).
Here’s $100. Can you win $800M at Powerball?
11–20 of 162 posts
Re: Here’s $100. Can you win $800M at Powerball?
#12Isn't this the wrong problem? It lets you enter X dollars, then it simulates if you played $1 on X numbers of sequential drawings... which would have terrible odds. Wouldn't it be better to simulate X numbers on Y draws, which would lead you to know the number of times/people would have to play to win. I don't think probability is communicative, is it? EDIT: It would also be neat to simulate the number of winners you…
Yes, it absolutely is. Buy two tickets, your chances double. This is the "don't play the lottery, dummy" for dummies, which is good advice for people that think they have anything more than an infinitesimal chance of winning, and/or pour more than five bucks into a single play.
Re: Here’s $100. Can you win $800M at Powerball?
#13Spent $115,698
Won $10,598
Win/loss $-105,100
Balance $0
ROI: ~10%
Re: Here’s $100. Can you win $800M at Powerball?
#14The comment on the site where some people play when it's a high payout more for wanting to participate in the cultural event (i.e. go see Star Wars in theaters) than the expectation that they'll win makes a lot of sense.
I think that's mainly why I get a few tickets sometimes when it gets super high, even though I know my chances of winning are significantly worse and my chances of winning at all are almost nothing.
Re: Here’s $100. Can you win $800M at Powerball?
#15This is a fascinating sentence: While the large jackpot prize may be tempting, it's extremely hard to have that one ticket in 292 million. I think my favorite part is that extremely hard isn't a very accurate description of how unlikely it is.
Poker players and literature do this all the time, much to my annoyment. "It's really hard to make a flush" ... no, it's really easy just not very likely.
Re: Here’s $100. Can you win $800M at Powerball?
#16I think most of us realize that they're not going to win, but when the jackpot becomes a national event every 6 months or whatever, there's usually some joy in buying a ticket anyway
Re: Here’s $100. Can you win $800M at Powerball?
#17Isn't this the wrong problem? It lets you enter X dollars, then it simulates if you played $1 on X numbers of sequential drawings... which would have terrible odds. Wouldn't it be better to simulate X numbers on Y draws, which would lead you to know the number of times/people would have to play to win. I don't think probability is communicative, is it? EDIT: It would also be neat to simulate the number of winners you…
It's also not clear what the end condition is. I edited the source so that it always picks my numbers, and it just keeps going. So far I've spent $2,734 and won over a trillion.
Re: Here’s $100. Can you win $800M at Powerball?
#18The obvious equivalent for the HN crowd:
"Here is $50k. Now quit your job and start a start-up"
Difficulty bonus -- startup idea is generated by a Markov chain and could be anything -- "Uber for dogs", "Taxidermied pets as drones" etc.
Re: Here’s $100. Can you win $800M at Powerball?
#19Spent $115,698 Won $10,598 Win/loss $-105,100 Balance $0 ROI: ~10%
Is ROI profit/investment or revenue/investment?
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/returnoninvestment.asp says its the first one.
Re: Here’s $100. Can you win $800M at Powerball?
#20Isn't this the wrong problem? It lets you enter X dollars, then it simulates if you played $1 on X numbers of sequential drawings... which would have terrible odds. Wouldn't it be better to simulate X numbers on Y draws, which would lead you to know the number of times/people would have to play to win. I don't think probability is communicative, is it? EDIT: It would also be neat to simulate the number of winners you…
Agreed, I want to play where I can put as much money into it for each drawing, and then it simulates that, not one ticket one drawing. I'm not doing this in reality (I spent $2 for a pool, woo), but I'm curious to see it simulated.
I have fun idea.. How about all the people on hacker news put $2 in the HN lotto pool:). So I am assuming there are over 50k people that read? Can you imagine if the people on HN win powerball, it will set a precedent. Now, that will be fun:).