Dear LPG,

Do you remember what you were doing on this day 28 years ago?  The year was 1994 and I am betting that many of the male readers of this website were enjoying their Saturday evening after a day of DIY, or just getting over their week of work, while the ladies were ironing having spent the day washing all those school uniforms while watching the television.  But on that day in 1994 Noel Edmonds presented the first ever National Lottery Draw.

The hype had been going on for what seemed like years and I know that I had bought my first ticket and was there with all my hopes of never having to go to work again at their height.  But it was not long before the whole idea lost its sparkle and I now have to be in a shop with a spare couple of pound coins to actually buy a ticket.  Many of us don’t even bother to check the draw numbers anymore but some people still do.

I have a friend who still spends well over £10.00 a week on tickets just in case he hits the jackpot and, each to their own, but I wondered if there was any science behind working out how to win. 

I went to the internet and found some interesting stuff.  Did you know that the idea of winning the lottery was first thought of a lot earlier than 1994? The internet intimates that there is evidence of lottery tickets being sold in as early as 1569, but   my question was just how much money do you need to spend a week to get the maximum chance of success?

I found information on the laws of probability and lots of advice regardless of which country’s lotto you look at.        I have found enough internet evidence to make me regret all those maths classes where I was not paying attention back in my school days.  But whichever way you look at it, the only thing I really learned is that it is not really worth buying a ticket because the odds of winning are really low.

I did all this to try to get my friend to spend less of his income on this habit because, while keeping the dream alive is a good thing, I think that you can pay too much for the privilege.

The only problem is that, for all the mental output, I am none the wiser when it comes to the answer to the question…

LO, Catford

LO found us some of the mathematical theories that are likely to tax the brain the least…

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