Question

You have purchased 5 lottery tickets (each with different numbers) for tonight’s Pick 4. In the Pick 4, one ball (numbered 0 – 9) is drawn from each of four cylinders. What are your odds of winning?

Please help

Answer 1

Answer: 0.05%

Explanation:

Ok, you have 5 tickets with different combinations of 4 numbers of them.

Now, the total number of combinations of 4 numbers (0 to 9) can be found as:

For the first number we have 10 options.

For the second number we also have 10 options.

for the third number we also have 10 options

for the fourth number we also have 10 options.

The total number of combinations is equal to the product of the number of options for each selection, this is:

Combinations = 10*10*10*10 = 100*100 = 10,000.

So out of 10,000 possible combinations, you have 5.

Then the odds of winning is the quotient between the combinations that you have and the total number of combinations: p = 5/10,000 = 0.0005

In percentage form, this is: 0.0005*100% = 0.05%