Brain Teasers
Odds of the Lottery
Assume a lottery is held where there are 5 winning numbers from 1 to 50 inclusive, and no number is repeated. Do you stand to make more money by picking your own numbers or having a computer give you random numbers?
Hint
Try to pick some random numbers yourself.Answer
You have better odds of making more money if you let the computer pick. If you have ever seen someone try to make random numbers, most people can't. If you are trying to pick random numbers, you will probably never pick 1-2-3-4-5 unless you are trying to make up for not picking numbers like that. However, a computer picking random numbers would likely pick that as much as the winning numbers would be that. So, your odds would be better to get the numbers from a computer because there would be less people to share the money with since the numbers are less easily reproduced.But, your odds of winning were never really good in the first place.
Hide Hint Show Hint Hide Answer Show Answer
What Next?
View a Similar Brain Teaser...
If you become a registered user you can vote on this brain teaser, keep track of which ones you have seen, and even make your own.
Solve a Puzzle
Comments hidden to avoid spoilers.
Follow Braingle!