"Come on , come on, listen to the money talk"
Right down the hall from my office, four otherwise sane(?) software engineers are having a very intense, passionate argument over tonight's estimated $600 million Mega Millions jackpot (or whatever it's up to now). The crux of the argument? One of them insists that it would be possible -- and rational! -- for someone with $175,711,536 at their disposal to purchase that many tickets with every possible combination of numbers, thus guaranteeing them a win and a doubling of their investment since the estimated cash payout is on the order of 460 million. The other three are trying to talk him out of this belief by citing the numerous practical difficulties associated with trying to purchase that many tickets and then find the winning numbers among them afterwards -- and doing the math (how many tickets can be printed in a minute, etc.) to prove it.
And you thought the conversations at your office were weird...
And you thought the conversations at your office were weird...