Certainly it was a feeble attempt to weaken the odds. Question was why a
draw totaling 138 was so frequent. It beats 150 for instance which should be
more frequent. If you are going to pick 6 numbers and live with it forever
then choose the best odds. Backgammon is won that way.

"Mike H" wrote:

Just for fun, another way, perhaps a bit faster:


Actually no not a 'bit' faster it's a walkover, seconds as opposed to
several minutes. Excellent.

Mike

"JE McGimpsey" wrote:

Just for fun, another way, perhaps a bit faster:

Public Sub test()
Dim vArr As Variant

vArr = PickSixToTotal(52, 138)
With ActiveSheet.Range("A1")
If IsArray(vArr) Then
With .Resize(UBound(vArr, 1), UBound(vArr, 2))
.Clear
.Value = vArr
End With
Else
.Value = vArr
End If
End With
End Sub


Public Function PickSixToTotal( _
ByVal MaxNum As Long, _
ByVal Target As Long, _
Optional ByVal MaxRows As Long = 50000#) As Variant

Const sp As String = ","

Dim vArr As Variant
Dim nCol As Long
Dim nCount As Long
Dim nCum As Long
Dim n1 As Long, n2 As Long, n3 As Long
Dim n4 As Long, n5 As Long, n6 As Long
Dim n12 As Long, n123 As Long, n1234 As Long

If Target < 21 Or Target (6 * MaxNum - 15) Then
PickSixToTotal = "Target Out of Range"
Exit Function
End If
nCol = 1
nCount = 1
ReDim vArr(1 To MaxRows, 1 To nCol)
For n1 = 1 To MaxNum - 5
If (6 * n1 + 15) <= Target And _
(n1 + 5 * MaxNum - 10) = Target Then
For n2 = n1 + 1 To MaxNum - 4
n12 = n1 + n2
If (n1 + 5 * n2 + 10) <= Target And _
(n12 + 4 * MaxNum - 6) = Target Then
For n3 = n2 + 1 To MaxNum - 3
n123 = n12 + n3
If (n12 + 4 * n3 + 6) <= Target And _
(n123 + 3 * MaxNum - 3) = Target Then
For n4 = n3 + 1 To MaxNum - 2
n1234 = n123 + n4
If (n123 + 3 * n4 + 3) <= Target And _
(n1234 + 2 * MaxNum - 1) = Target Then
For n5 = n4 + 1 To MaxNum - 1
n6 = Target - n1234 - n5
If n6 <= n5 Then Exit For
If n6 <= MaxNum Then
vArr(nCount, nCol) = n1 & sp & n2 & sp & _
n3 & sp & n4 & sp & n5 & sp & n6
If nCount = MaxRows Then
nCol = nCol + 1
nCount = 1
ReDim Preserve vArr(1 To MaxRows, 1 To nCol)
Else
nCount = nCount + 1
End If
End If
Next n5
End If
Next n4
End If
Next n3
End If
Next n2
End If
Next n1
PickSixToTotal = vArr
End Function

In article ,
Mike H wrote:

Hi,

An interesting Sunday afternoon exercise. Firstly, you will need to be quite
wealthy to cover all of the 156004 combinations that add up to 138. To
generate them use an empty worksheet and put the numbers 1 - 49 in column A
starting in A1. Then right click the sheet tab, view code and paste this in
and run it and then make a cup of tea because it took several minutes to run
on my PC.

P.S. It would be unwise to press the print button unless you have lots of
paper!!

Sub thelottery()
Count = 1
col = 2
lastrow = Range("A65536").End(xlUp).Row
Set myRange = Range("A1:A" & lastrow)
For Each c In myRange
numbers = numbers + 1
Next
Dim n(49)
For p = 1 To numbers
n(p) = Cells(p, 1).Value
Next
For i = 1 To numbers
For j = 1 To numbers
If j <= i Then GoTo 100
For k = 1 To numbers
If k <= j Then GoTo 200
For l = 1 To numbers
If l <= k Then GoTo 300
For m = 1 To numbers
If m <= l Then GoTo 400
For o = 1 To numbers
If o <= m Then GoTo 500
For x = 1 To numbers
If i = x Then firstno = n(x)
Next
For x = 1 To numbers
If j = x Then secondno = n(x)
Next
For x = 1 To numbers
If k = x Then thirdno = n(x)
Next
For x = 1 To numbers
If l = x Then fourthno = n(x)
Next
For x = 1 To numbers
If m = x Then fifthno = n(x)
Next
For x = 1 To numbers
If o = x Then sixthno = n(x)
Next
If firstno + secondno + thirdno + fourthno + fifthno +
sixthno = 138 Then
Cells(Count, col).Value = firstno & "," & secondno &
"," & thirdno & "," & fourthno & "," & fifthno & "," & sixthno
If Count = 65536 Then
Count = 1
col = col + 1
Else
Count = Count + 1
End If
End If
500 Next
400 Next
300 Next
200 Next
100 Next

Next
Cells(1, 8).Value = Count - 1
End Sub


Mike

"Kobus" wrote:

Question1: How do I calculate the number of combinations in a 49 number 6
ball lottery where every combinations adds up to say: 138. Sum total 279,
for instance, can only happen once.
Question2: How do I generate these results?