I just ran across something interesting and wanted to share it with the class in case somebody might find it useful. I ran across an interesting channel on youtube called numberphile that has different math nerds posting videos about numerical anomalies. I was going through a couple of them on Fibonacci patterns in hopes of finding some angle to help pick numbers, especially for the mid-day drawings on P3D, P4D, and P5D.
My thinking is that the difference between the mid-day and evening drawings is that the mid-day are computer generated and the evening ones are mechanical ball drawings, so the pattern between the two should be different. If you could figure out the method for the computer generated drawing, it should give you a leg up on reducing the list of candidate numbers to play...or at least that's the theory.
Anyway, I started looking at the frequency of prime numbers in the day drawings compared to evening and found something that surprised me. Haven't backtested this yet beyond the month of December, but what I found within the past 38 drawings was worth sharing (or at least I thought so).
For those who slept through math class, a prime number is only divisible by itself and one. Between 000 and 999, there are 168 prime numbers. Between 0000 and 9999, there are 1,229 primes. Between 00000 and 99999, there are 9,592 primes. That should make the odds of a prime coming up for a P3 drawing a little less than 17%. For a P4 drawing, a little better than 12%. For a P5 drawing, a little better than 9%.
But for the past 38 drawings, P3D came up with a prime number 11 times or nearly double what you'd expect. During the same period, the P3E, only 5 primes came up. The P4D came up with 8 primes instead of the 5 you'd expect. P4E came up with 7 primes. P5D came up with 10 primes, rather than the 4 you'd expect, while the P5E came up with only one prime in 38 drawings.
My working theory at this point is there's something in the algorithm they use to select the mid-day numbers that favors prime numbers.
There was also a fair amount of primes following primes, at least in the P3D drawings. So when you see a prime land in the P3D, there's an increased likelihood that a prime will fall during the next day or two. Hopefully somebody finds some use to these fun facts.