There’s a lottery meme spreading amongst American Facebook users claiming that if the current US Powerball jackpot was divided evenly, every American would get $US4.3 million. But that’s not right at all. Why? Simple maths.
When we take $US1.3 billion and divide by 300 million we get $US4.33. As in, four dollars and 33 cents. Not $US4.33 million. So while it’s a nice dream that the lottery winnings would make every person in the country wealthy, it’s not even close to being true.
At time of writing, the Facebook post currently has 403,336 likes and 809,789 shares. And that’s not even counting the number of people who have just ripped the image and posted it to their Facebook page anew.
In fact, the image that’s currently going viral looks as if it was altered to include a different handle, @Livesosa. There’s a ghostly image behind it that I can’t quite make out.
Whoever originally made the meme, it’s pretty unstoppable. Expect to see this one on your American friends and family’s social media accounts this week, if you haven’t already.
The meme even has its own counter-meme now:
Nevermind the fact that the population of the United States is actually closer to 319 million. Which means that if the Powerball jackpot were divided evenly amongst the entire population everyone would get about $US4.09.
Maths was never my strong suit. But I certainly know how to use a calculator. Or Google. There are literally millions of better ways to give away $US1.3 billion than handing it over to one person. And maybe dividing it evenly would be smart. But you’re not going to get much more than enough for a cup of coffee.
h/t Chris Scott on Twitter
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