A lottery winner told how he picked his six-digit winning number (5-6-8-10-22-39): number of people in his family, birth date of his wife, school grade of his 13-year-old daughter, sum of his birth date and his wife’s, number of years of marriage, and year of his birth. He said, “I try to pick numbers that mean something to me.” The State Lottery Commissioner called this method “the screwiest I ever heard of . . . but apparently it works.”
(a) From a statistical viewpoint, do you agree that this method “works”?
(b) Based on your understanding of how a lottery works, would someone who picks 1-2-3-4-5-6 because “it is easy to remember” have a lower chance of winning?