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Winning the jackpot in a particular lottery requires that you select the correct four numbers between 1 and 38 and in a separate drawing you must select the correct single number between 1 and 15. Find the probability of winning the jackpot.

User NegatioN
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1 Answer

1 vote

Final answer:

The probability of winning the jackpot in this lottery is obtained by multiplying the probabilities of selecting four correct numbers from 1-38 and one correct number from 1-15, resulting in a very small chance of 1/1,002,030.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the probability of winning the jackpot in a particular lottery, you need to calculate the probability of successfully selecting each set of numbers and then multiply those probabilities together.

First, you select 4 correct numbers from 1 to 38. Since the numbers are distinct and presumably drawn without replacement, the probability of getting the first number right is 1/38, the second 1/37, the third 1/36, and the fourth 1/35, because with each number drawn, one less number remains.

For the separate drawing, the chance of picking the correct single number between 1 and 15 is 1/15.

Thus, the combined probability of winning the jackpot is the product of these probabilities:

(1/38) * (1/37) * (1/36) * (1/35) * (1/15).

Performing the calculation gives us the probability:

1/1,002,030 (rounded to six significant figures).

Therefore, the probability is exceedingly small, as expected for such a large jackpot.

User Sergi Mansilla
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