Can 1/4 of the total combinations match 6 numbers drawn from a set of 80?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on calculating the probability of matching 6 numbers drawn from a set of 80, where 20 numbers are selected in a game. The total number of combinations for selecting 6 numbers from 80 is 300,500,200. The user questions whether 1/4 of these combinations would match the 6 numbers drawn from the 20 selected. They conclude that to find the relevant combinations, they should calculate the combinations of 20 numbers taken 6 at a time. The conversation highlights the need for clarity in combinatorial calculations related to probability.
StevieTNZ
Messages
1,934
Reaction score
873
Hi there,

As my Maths skills suck, I'm not entirely sure if I've worked out the following correctly:

Using the combinations calculator - http://www.mathsisfun.com/combinatorics/combinations-permutations-calculator.html - the total amount of possible numbers drawn in a game (80), and how many sets of 6 I can create using those 80 numbers (without repetition or order being important) - ends up to be 300,500,200.

In anyone game, 20 numbers of the 80 are drawn, which is equivalent to 1/4. Does that mean that 1/4 of the number of combinations I have - 300,500,200 - will match 6 of those numbers (out of 20) drawn?

E.g. I have the numbers 3, 4, 6, 10, 15, 25, 30, 45, 51, 58, 62, 63, 65, 67, 72, 73, 76, 77, 78, 80 drawn out of the 80.
One possible combination (of 6 numbers) is 15, 30, 62, 63, 78, 80. Since all six numbers are drawn, this ticket matches.

Not sure if that's clear enough, but my guess is that I need to work out the amount of combinations where n = 20 and r = 6.

But if we have n = 80, and r = 1, and 20 numbers are drawn (number of combinations being 80), 1/4 of the combinations (20) match a number drawn from a total of 80.
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
You can count how many combinations there are out of the 20 you have drawn by just seeing how many ways out of 20 numbers you can pick six of them
 
Thanks for that. I thought that was the way to go about it.
 
Thread 'Video on imaginary numbers and some queries'
Hi, I was watching the following video. I found some points confusing. Could you please help me to understand the gaps? Thanks, in advance! Question 1: Around 4:22, the video says the following. So for those mathematicians, negative numbers didn't exist. You could subtract, that is find the difference between two positive quantities, but you couldn't have a negative answer or negative coefficients. Mathematicians were so averse to negative numbers that there was no single quadratic...
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. In Dirac’s Principles of Quantum Mechanics published in 1930 he introduced a “convenient notation” he referred to as a “delta function” which he treated as a continuum analog to the discrete Kronecker delta. The Kronecker delta is simply the indexed components of the identity operator in matrix algebra Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/what-exactly-is-diracs-delta-function/ by...
Thread 'Unit Circle Double Angle Derivations'
Here I made a terrible mistake of assuming this to be an equilateral triangle and set 2sinx=1 => x=pi/6. Although this did derive the double angle formulas it also led into a terrible mess trying to find all the combinations of sides. I must have been tired and just assumed 6x=180 and 2sinx=1. By that time, I was so mindset that I nearly scolded a person for even saying 90-x. I wonder if this is a case of biased observation that seeks to dis credit me like Jesus of Nazareth since in reality...
Back
Top