Final answer:
To win the lotto in one state, one must correctly select six numbers from a collection of 52 numbers. The order in which the selection is made does not matter. The number of different selections possible is approximately 20,358,520.
Step-by-step explanation:
To win the lotto in one state, one must correctly select six numbers from a collection of 52 numbers. The order in which the selection is made does not matter. To find the number of different selections possible, we can use the concept of combinations. The formula to calculate the number of combinations is:
C(n, r) = n! / (r!(n - r)!)
Where n is the total number of elements and r is the number of elements to be selected. In this case, we have 52 numbers and we need to select 6. Plugging these values into the formula:
C(52, 6) = 52! / (6!(52 - 6)!) = 52! / (6!46!)
Calculating this expression gives us the number of different selections possible, which is approximately 20,358,520.