Tuesday, July 27, 2010

When it pays not to know your times table

I suspect this is probably apocryphal, but it's a nice little allegory on the role of luck in life:
For almost two centuries, Spain has hosted an enormously popular Christmas lottery. Based on payout, it is the biggest lottery in the world and nearly all Spaniards play. In the mid 1970s, a man sought a ticket with the last two digits ending in 48. He found a ticket, bought it, and then won the lottery. When asked why he was so intent on finding that number, he replied, "I dreamed of the number seven for seven straight nights. And 7 times 7 is 48."

(source here)

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