# Hypothetical - Comp Sci Phd Student; Lottery.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-comp-sci-phd-student-lottery/662513>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [July 3, 2013, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-comp-sci-phd-student-lottery/662513 "2013-07-03T06:44:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AHeinrich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@AHeinrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHeinrich)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-comp-sci-phd-student-lottery/662513/1 "2013-07-03T06:44:57Z")

</div>

Let’s say that I’m a Computer Science Phd genius at MIT and I’ve just won half a billion dollars on the lottery.

What do I do?

Do you think I could turn that into billions of dollars? What would you do if you were this person?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-comp-sci-phd-student-lottery/662513/2 "2013-07-03T07:00:35Z")

</div>

Be content with the half billion. The quickest way to turn a large fortune into a small fortune is ti try to make a larger fortune.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-comp-sci-phd-student-lottery/662513/3 "2013-07-03T07:27:54Z")

</div>

Trick question: comp sci PhD students at MIT are **far** too pedantic about probability to play the lottery.