Simple arithmetic…

“A retired couple who won $26 million [$8M, actually] playing state lotteries by using simple arithmetic could have a Hollywood movie made of their incredible story.

Jerry and Marge Selbee made millions winning various state lottery games over six years and helped others in their home town of Evart, Michigan, beat the system.

The pair sold the convenience store they had run for 17 years in 2003, when Mr Selbee made the discovery that changed their lives.

He has a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Western Michigan University and when he saw a brochure for a new lottery called Winfall, he realized within minutes how to beat the odds.

The unique feature he cracked was the 'roll down', which was when no one won the $5 million jackpot and the money was then spread across those who matched five, four and three numbers…”

https://mol.im/a/6639765

I read a long article about this guy last year. Very interesting. I will try to find it and post the link.

EDIT: Here is the article I mentioned.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: CoolRich59,

I wonder if he is related to the constipated mathematician who worked it out with a pencil?

When I play (rarely) I just "quick pick" but I never win

You mean, Dr. Gunter Zooloft? The one who almost solved Carmichael's totient conjecture?

They were featured on 60 Minutes last night

quote:

Originally posted by pbramlett:
You mean, Dr. Gunter Zooloft? The one who almost solved Carmichael's totient conjecture?

A conjecture on Euler's totient function. IMO, Leonhard Euler was the greatest mathematician ever. Euler's zeta function, and Riemann’s conjecture about its complex form… Astounding.

How do you buy thousands of unique tickets. Or do you just hope quick pick does not give repeats.

MIT has an interesting history in gambling.

quote:

Originally posted by Spokane228:
How do you buy thousands of unique tickets. Or do you just hope quick pick does not give repeats.

You would hope it's random. They were just playing on the times when the payout was better than what the odds should dictate. This is different than when the jackpot payout is bigger than the odds then the strategy is to buy all possible permutations of the numbers because for sure one of them will hit the jackpot.

All the zeros of R(z)=1 may not lie upon the line. They are said to be 'nervous' the farther out one looks.

^^^^^^^^
It’ll make the number theorists really nervous if any of the zeros is nervous enough to escape x = 1/2.

Indeed, the /2 was omitted in haste. I long ago purchased and still own an entire treatise on Herr Doktor Riemann's enigma, but not from the number theorists' perspective, the algebraeists flavor of whom I later battled so fruitlessly that I re-oriented my entire professional life to far more productive (and far improved remuneratively) endeavors. My academic heritage was via David Hilbert.

You all seem to be having a great time but I feel worse than when I opened the thread.

I like turtles...

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
You all seem to be having a great time but I feel worse than when I opened the thread.

Yeah. Me too. Once I got past "mathematician wins lottery", it all started going over my apparently pointy head.

x = ???

All you have to do is add two and then subtract four from the previous drawing’s numbers

He didn't "beat" the lottery. He did realize that under the distribution rules of this particular game, that the odds got considerably better at a certain point, and bought tickets in that game.

Using any kind of mathematical strategy to win in a casino will, at the very least, get you kicked out of it. In other words, you are penalized for playing the games too well.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
He didn't "beat" the lottery. He did realize that under the distribution rules of this particular game, that the odds got considerably better at a certain point, and bought tickets in that game.

Well, in one sense if you are able to consistently make money when gambling you are beating the odds, so he did "beat" the lottery.

That is not to say he did anything wrong or illegal.