Consider this scenario - You walk into a store and notice that your state lottery has just introduced a brand new lottery. You are excited and are considering whether or not you would like to play it. The new game offers an attractive jackpot, but you would like to know something about the odds before deciding if you should buy a ticket. You don't have access to a computer to check out the lottery's website so that you could look up the odds. If only you were a math whiz and knew how to calculate the probability of winning a lottery. Actually, you could. It's quite easy.
Here's how to calculate the probability of winning the lottery. Take the biggest number in that particular lottery and multiply each of the biggest numbers. Stop multiplying after you reach the amount of numbers drawn. Then do the same thing with the lowest numbers - Multiply them until you reach the amount of numbers drawn. Divide the first number you get by the second number you get and that will be the odds of winning that lottery.
It's probably easier to show an example. Take 6/49, one of the most popular lottery formats in the world. To win, you have to match 6 balls out of a possible 49. To calculate the odds of winning, multiply the 6 highest numbers: 49 x 48 x 47 x 46 x 45 x 44. It equals 10,068,347,520. Then multiply the first 6 numbers: 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6. It equals 720. Then divide 10,068,347,520 by 720. It equals 13,983,816. That's your odds of winning a 6/49 lottery - 1-in-13,983,816
So, next time you are in the above scenario and need to calculate the probability of winning a lottery, just take out your cell phone and do the calculations yourself (I'm sure you know that most cell phones have a calculator).
