subject: Picking Lottery Numbers - Should I Choose Quick Picks or My Own Numbers? [print this page] Picking Lottery Numbers - Should I Choose Quick Picks or My Own Numbers?
When picking lottery numbers, what do you usually do? Do you let a computer randomly generate a number for your, like a quick pick. Or do you choose your own numbers like birthdays, anniversaries or your favorite lucky numbers? If you are choosing your own numbers like this, you probably feel like you have some sort of ownership in the outcome of the next draw. If just a few of your numbers win, I am sure that you feel like your system worked, right? Being stubborn and staying with your "lucky" numbers may not be the best way to optimize your chances of winning.
Do auto generated quick pick tickets give you an advantage?
A quick pick ticket is simply a lottery ticket randomly generated by the lotto machine at your favorite lottery retailer. Lots of people have the idea that their chances of correctly picking lottery numbers increase if they let a computer randomly give them a set of numbers. The outcome of the lottery draw is random too, right? People a lot smarter than me, like mathematicians, have a slightly different view of what is actually going on in a so called random lottery drawing. They believe that the laws of probability must have some sort of bearing on what the next outcome will be.
What is probability?
Think of probability like this. If you have a bag with three marbles in it, one of the marbles is green, one is red, and one is blue. What are the chances that you will pull a red one out of the bag? You will have a one in three or 33% chance of pulling out a red marble. That's a very simple example, but it starts to get complicated when you ask the question "what are the chances of pulling out a red marble two times in a row?"
How can you learn how to take advantage of using the laws of probability when picking lottery numbers?
