I’ve just had a look at the previous numbers in the UK’s national lottery, http://www.nationallottery.co.uk/ , and I’ve noticed that the ball that came up least was 13. Now, this lottery has been running for quite a few years, so, statistically, it would suggest the 13 really is unlucky.
Is there any reason why? Or is it just coincidence?
it’s just coincidence, that and the human mind’s remarkable ability to find patterns, even when none are truly there.
There have been some quite interesting experiments with random numbers against numbers supposedly picked at random by people one notable point is that people tend to expect random numbers to be evenly distributed, whereas in reality, they tend to clump together (even that’s only a perceptive pattern matching observation though).
Cecil has somethig to say on the matter of 13 too (of course):Why is the number 13 considered unlucky?
I think I maybe could have used a little more puctuation up there, oh well.
Heheh, it got the point across. I guess you’re right, and my amazing system for winning the lottery by picking religiously lucky numbers won’t work. Heck, it’s worth a try though!
I just saw on cable an interesting program on Las Vegas casinos. They showed the roulette tables with the electronic boards tracking the last 20 or so numbers that have come up. For example, people will notice that a red number has come up the last four times, so they will bet that the next number will be black. The assumption is that the odds increase the more a certain number or color comes up. The casinos have increased their winnings by 30 percent on roulette since the introduction of these boards because bettors think the odds are on their side. They aren’t. It’s still quite random.
No, 13 is not unlucky. Please feel free to join us in Great Debates where we have been discussing the matter of luck vs. coincidence: