2-2 Math, Angle, and Test Operations
Getting Started is a fast-paced introduction. Read the chapter for details.
Suppose you want to enter a lottery where six numbers will be drawn out of 50.
To win, you must pick all six numbers (in any order). What is the probability of
winning if you buy one ticket? What is the probability of winning if you buy five
tickets?
1. Determine the number of combinations possible. On
the Home screen, press 50 to enter the total number of
items. Press I 6 to display the MATH PRB menu.
Press 3 to select nCr. Press 6 to enter the number of
items selected.
2. Press ¸ to evaluate the expression. This is the
total number of possible combinations of 6 numbers
drawn from a set of 50 numbers. With one ticket, you
have one chance in 15,890,700 of winning.
3. To calculate the probability of winning with one
ticket, press 1 e 2 ± ¸. The answer is too
large to display in fixed notation; therefore, it is shown
in scientific notation. 0.00000006292988981 is the
decimal equivalent.
4. To calculate the probability of winning with five
tickets, press p 5 ¸. Again, the answer is too
small to display in fixed notation. The decimal
equivalent is 0.000000314649449.
Getting Started: Lottery Chances