Actual odds....
Written by Wes David
Art by Don Stevens
October 22, 2007 - #351 of 746

Tress and Doug share a panel. Doug sits at a table, on the left hand side. There is a large sign draped from the table. Tress is on the right, facing left. The poster says: Play DougLotto One dollar could win ONE TRILLION DOLLARS! Odds in Winning: 1 in 25!* (Down below, we see the fine print) *Not to be confused with an exclamation point. Actual odds are 1 in 25 factorial.

Tress : I want to play!
Doug : Cool. Let me explain the rules before you spend any money. "25!" is a mathematical way of saying a really large number. *** Panel ********************** Close up of Doug, as he explains.
Doug : The lottery only works because people don't understand enough about probability. People are willing to take payouts that are worth far less than the actual odds. If you're going to go for that Lotto jackpot, you shouldn't even bother until the jackpot is over 175 million.



Doug is trying to explain this to Tress. She's having none of it as she tries to give him a dollar.

Doug : Also, the odds may "sound" good, but that's because people don't really appreciate the numbers. We use the words "million" and "billion" so much, that we actually think that "one in a million" is pretty common.
Tress : Noise keeps escaping from your wordhole! I could win a trillion dollars! *** Panel ********************** Doug holds out his hand. Tress is reaching into her purse.
Doug : Well, you better buy two tickets, just in case.
Tress : Oooh, good idea.


You're dying to know that 25! is 15,511,210,043,330,985,984,000,000. --Wes

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