Monday, June 13, 2005
Law of averages
Question:
You know that if you roll a six sided dice enough it'll average out to be 3.5 (1+2+3+4+5+6)/6, this is sometimes called the "Law of Averages."
Here's the theory, if you notice that you've been rolling a lot of low numbers in a row, since you know it's going to average out a lot of high numbers must come up soon.
This is what some people try to do with lotery numbers by keeping track of old lottery numbers to help predict future winning numbers.
Hints:
Although things should eventually average out it doesn't have to happen soon, or even in your lifetime. Just because you rolled a thousand ones in a row doesn't mean you are going to roll high from now on to average it out.
Basically, you need to remember that dice don't have any memory, they have no idea what you rolled before.
You know that if you roll a six sided dice enough it'll average out to be 3.5 (1+2+3+4+5+6)/6, this is sometimes called the "Law of Averages."
Here's the theory, if you notice that you've been rolling a lot of low numbers in a row, since you know it's going to average out a lot of high numbers must come up soon.
This is what some people try to do with lotery numbers by keeping track of old lottery numbers to help predict future winning numbers.
Hints:
- Think of what would happen if the dice was swapped to a new pair of dice, or if the balls used in the lottery were changed, of you repainted the balls to be different numbers.
- Remember than dice and lottery balls don't have a memory.
Although things should eventually average out it doesn't have to happen soon, or even in your lifetime. Just because you rolled a thousand ones in a row doesn't mean you are going to roll high from now on to average it out.
Basically, you need to remember that dice don't have any memory, they have no idea what you rolled before.
# posted by Scott Kirkwood @ 4:06 PM 
