The Case of the Missing Lottery Numbers
This note is an answer to articles with sensational title ``Pick 3 glitch angers players of number 9. In Pick 3 games players choose three numbers, each from 0 to 9. A chance device selects three ordered winning numbers and prizes are awarded depending on how a player's ticket matches the winning numbers. This game reduces the following probabilistic model. Consider a sequence of independent trials in which \(n\) balls are distributed randomly and independently into \(N\) cells. The aim is to find \(P(\bigcup_{1\leq i\leq N}A_i)\); that is, the probability that at least one cell is not occupied. With \(N=10\) digits when \(n=51\) (17 random Pick 3 drawings) the chance of some missing digit is less than \(0.05\). When \(n=96\) (32 random Pick 3 drawings), the probability is negligible \(\approx 0.00004\). Moreover the author calculates the waiting time probability density function and numerical values for means and standard deviations of waiting times to occupy \(N\) cells.
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