Whenever there's a huge jackpot there's always one of these articles, but I think sometimes those article really miss the point on just the comparison themselves. For example, the chance of winning an Oscar is lower than the chance of winning the Powerball as a function over the total human population. That said, for most indivduals you can be nearly certain that your chance of winning the Oscar is 0, so if we're talking about making a decision solely as a basis of probability, then you want to buy as much lottery ticket as possible as long as you're not totally handsome/beautiful.
Another common one is you're more likely to get killed by a shark, but if you don't go to an area where there are sharks, there is no chance you'll get killed by a shark. The chance to hit a deer is supposed to be 6000 in 1, but if you drive in only urban area your chance of hitting a deer is considerably less than 6000 in 1. None of this means it necessarily makes sense to buy the lottery, but people who write these articles should really at least find something that's at least random enough. Getting hit by lightning, for example, is at least a comparable event. That said, the Guiness Book of Records says the record for most time struck by lightning by a person is 7. So according to the odds that guy can easily win about 5 lotteries given the chance of get struck by lightning is about 3 million to 1 versus 100ish million to 1 for lottery. Of course that guy is a park ranger, so his chance to get hit by lightning is probably considerably higher than you or me.
Another common one is you're more likely to get killed by a shark, but if you don't go to an area where there are sharks, there is no chance you'll get killed by a shark. The chance to hit a deer is supposed to be 6000 in 1, but if you drive in only urban area your chance of hitting a deer is considerably less than 6000 in 1. None of this means it necessarily makes sense to buy the lottery, but people who write these articles should really at least find something that's at least random enough. Getting hit by lightning, for example, is at least a comparable event. That said, the Guiness Book of Records says the record for most time struck by lightning by a person is 7. So according to the odds that guy can easily win about 5 lotteries given the chance of get struck by lightning is about 3 million to 1 versus 100ish million to 1 for lottery. Of course that guy is a park ranger, so his chance to get hit by lightning is probably considerably higher than you or me.
