![]() ![]() There are 13 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. in English with a concentration in Literature and a Minor in Philosophy. Madeleine graduated from Mills College with a B.A. Her professional path started at NaNoWriMo, where she scripted and hosted a series on worldbuilding. She has penned seven novels under a pseudonym and loves all escapist genres, from cozy fantasies to hard-boiled sci-fi. ![]() Madeleine has 12 years of experience in literacy advocacy and the creative arts that span tutoring, teaching, writing, public relations, and non-profit support. Madeleine Flamiano is an Editing Fellow at wikiHow based in Berkeley, California, as well as a Team Organizer, Copy Editor, and Movie Critic for Incluvie. I can figure out how much gold is underground.This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Madeleine Flamiano. If I know the forces, I can decipher the samples. There are fundamental geologic forces that created those numbers. "The numbers might seem random, as if the gold has just been scattered, but they're actually not random at all. "My job is to make sense of those results," he says. Each sample gives a different estimate of the amount of mineral underground. A typical assignment for Srivastava goes like this: A mining company has multiple samples from a potential gold mine. In fact, it reminded him a lot of his day job, which involves consulting for mining and oil companies. When he talks about a subject he's interested in-and he's interested in many things, from military encryption to freshwater fossils-his words start to run into each other.Īs a trained statistician with degrees from MIT and Stanford University, Srivastava was intrigued by the technical problem posed by the lottery ticket. He has a neatly trimmed beard and a messy office. Srivastava speaks quietly, with a slight stammer. Instead, it has to generate the illusion of randomness while actually being carefully determined." But that's not possible, since the lottery corporation needs to control the number of winning tickets. Of course, it would be really nice if the computer could just spit out random digits. "The tickets are clearly mass-produced, which means there must be some computer program that lays down the numbers. "On my way, I start looking at the tic-tac-toe game, and I begin to wonder how they make these things," Srivastava says. "I felt like the king of the world."ĭelighted, he decided to take a lunchtime walk to the gas station to cash in his ticket. "This is the smallest amount you can win, but I can't tell you how excited it made me," he says. ![]() Srivastava matched up each of his numbers with the digits on the boards, and much to his surprise, the ticket had a tic-tac-toe. If three of "Your Numbers" appeared on a board in a straight line, you'd won. ![]() The goal was to scrape off the latex and compare the numbers under it to the digits on the boards. On the left was a box headlined "Your Numbers," covered with a scratchable latex coating. Its design was straightforward: On the right were eight tic-tac-toe boards, dense with different numbers. The second ticket was a tic-tac-toe game. "I thought, 'This is exactly why I never play these dumb games.'" "The first was a loser, and I felt pretty smug," Srivastava says. He fished a coin out of a drawer and began scratching off the latex coating. The tickets were cheap scratchers-a gag gift from his squash partner-and Srivastava found himself wondering if any of them were winners. 4, 2011— - Mohan Srivastava, a geological statistician living in Toronto, was working in his office in June 2003, waiting for some files to download onto his computer, when he discovered a couple of old lottery tickets buried under some paper on his desk. ![]()
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