[2011-Dec-04]

[teleus]

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2451#comic

While I think today's comment was quite funny, how can the expected loss exceed the price of the ticket? Lottery tickets cost $1.

[Quintushalls]

The Mathmetician General will go to your house, punch you in the face, and steal $1.18 from you, just for buying a lottery ticket.

[msg]

While the expected value may be negative it doesn't mean that purchasing a lottery ticket is not rational.

As an extreme example suppose you need $1,000,000 to pay off the mob otherwise they come and kill you. If you don't buy the ticket you're going to die where as if you do buy the ticket you might not. More generally it's naive to suggest that the value of money to an individual is a linear function.

[Guest]

Zach's sure got a hate-on for people who play the lottery. Some people find it fun without actually expecting to win. But no, yeah, that's exactly as bad as a nicotine addiction that could potentially give you cancer.

[DonRetrasado]

While I think today's comment was quite funny, how can the expected loss exceed the price of the ticket? Lottery tickets cost $1.

Depends on what lottery.

[Guest]

Yes, we get it. You took a statistics course and that makes you smarter than anyone who plays the lottery. Well done.

[Gangler]

I look forward to seeing if I do any better than the average smoker as a fat asshole. Dad's in his forties and a lot of his overweight friends have already dropped dead, while others are living the rest of their lives as invalids after heart attacks or strokes. though he himself is still doing spectacularly (by overweight standards). Got to see a man live in constant pain for a year recently while he got his weight down to a point where the doctors could operate on him. I don't know how it compares with what smokers go through, but it certainly didn't look like he was enjoying it.

It's a fun little game. Like if you combined russian roulette with a deadpool. Let's see which of our poisons kills us the fastest. If you're still alive after all your peers have died then you win! I think what Zach's really saying is that he enjoys the lottery and wants in on our fun times. Too many people under-appreciate the lethal effects of two dollars wasted on a biweekly basis. Then there's papercuts. Geez, that shit can get infected.

[Rolf Andreassen]

Ok look, this is just not right. First, the expected value of the lottery ticket is not negative (unless this is some sort of made-up lottery in which losers as well as winners are drawn, and have to pay extra); it is some positive number which is smaller than what you paid for it. It's the transaction, buying something with EV $0.72 for a price of $3, that has negative expected value. Second, the side effect should be "losing $[price of the ticket]", because it is really remarkably unlikely that you'll lose the difference in expected value between your 3 dollars and the ticket.

Come now! If you're going to make jokes about idiots who buy lottery tickets, make them accurate! It's rude enough to laugh at the retarded without making things up. If your target can't walk and do differential equations at the same time, that's still no reason to accuse him of being unable to tie his shoelaces.

[DonRetrasado]

Gambling addiction is actually sort of a real problem. It's fine if you buy a ticket every now and then, and you lose $2. But many people lose a lot more than that, and I often feel like the question of how the lottery exploits these people isn't answered. It's not a "stupid tax", it's people taking money from people who can't control themselves. Drug dealers do the same thing.

[Oldrac the Chitinous]

While I think today's comment was quite funny, how can the expected loss exceed the price of the ticket? Lottery tickets cost $1.

There's a small but nonzero probability that you will lose, throw yourself off a bridge in despair, survive, and have to pay onerous hospital bills.

[GUTCHUCKER]

That would be horrible!

[ChaoticBrain]

That would be horrible!

[LORD RACIST SATAN]

While the expected value may be negative it doesn't mean that purchasing a lottery ticket is not rational.

As an extreme example suppose you need $1,000,000 to pay off the mob otherwise they come and kill you. If you don't buy the ticket you're going to die where as if you do buy the ticket you might not. More generally it's naive to suggest that the value of money to an individual is a linear function.

If you ever do need to pay off the mob, and only have enough money to buy several lottery tickets, and you feel like gambling in a vain attempt to save your life. Go to a casino and gamble something in which the odds are better, like roulette.

[GUTCHUCKER]

Oh you damn dirty troper

[Logicician]

While the expected value may be negative it doesn't mean that purchasing a lottery ticket is not rational.

As an extreme example suppose you need $1,000,000 to pay off the mob otherwise they come and kill you. If you don't buy the ticket you're going to die where as if you do buy the ticket you might not. More generally it's naive to suggest that the value of money to an individual is a linear function.

But if you win the lottery you'd be able to pay the mob off in full and have money left over for a classic car collection.