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DaveC426913 said:I had a tough time convincing my brother that the lottery numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 had exactly the same odds as any other selection of 7 specific numbers.
Certainly true. You can't increase or decrease the probability of selecting the winning lottery numbers no matter how they are chosen. But one thing you might be able to control is the probability of sharing the prize given that you win it. This is more a psychological problem than a mathematical one. For example, if it is true that birthday date numbers are chosen by players more often than random chance would dictate, you can perhaps increase your probability of not sharing any pot, should you win it, by avoiding the numbers 1 .. 31 in your selection.
I don't know if it is true, but several years ago I heard about a situation where some TV program had mentioned some numbers in an episode that didn't have anything to do with a lottery. But apparently several people decided to try those numbers for luck. The numbers came up and all those people got to share a much diminished prize. True or not, it illustrates my point.