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Letter: Unlucky 13

Published 1 December 2001

From Paul Brooke

The latest frequency tables for the British lottery numbers reveal visible
statistical evidence of naturally occurring triskaidekaphobia. The number 13
appears at the bottom of the list, having been drawn only 65 times since the
start of the lottery. A pronounced and startlingly low figure compared to an
expected average of 88.

An interesting situation, considering that the frequency tables contain a
reasonably large sample. This is way down the lower end of a Gaussian
distribution, and surely can’t just be coincidence?

Irthlingborough, Northants

Issue no. 2319 published 1 December 2001

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