Problema Solution

To play a certain lottery, a person has to correctly select 5 out of 55 numbers, paying $1 for each five number selection. if the five numbers are the as as the ones drawn by the lottery, mountains of money are bestowed.

What is the probability that a person with one combination of five numbers will win?

what is the probability of winning if 100 different lottery tickets are purchased?

Answer provided by our tutors

the probability that a person with one combination of five numbers will win is


P (one combination of five numbers will win) = 1/ 55C5


the number of 5-combinations of 55 elements is 55C5 = 55! / (5!*50!)


55C5 = 51*52*53*54*55/(2*3*4*5)


55C5 = 3478761


P (one combination of five numbers will win) = 1/3478761 = 0.0000000287


the probability of winning if 100 different lottery tickets are purchased


P (100 different lottery tickets are purchased) = 100/ 55C5


P (100 different lottery tickets are purchased) = 100/3478761


P (100 different lottery tickets are purchased) = 0.00000287