WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?

I was tidying up my bookmarks this afternoon when I decided to click on an old link, for the Audi Q7 Streets of Tomorrow sweeps that closed last month, to see if 1.) I could access the darn thing; in the final ten days of the sweeps, I had been unable to get the old gal humming, so, after weeks of entering every single day, I was mighty frustrated that I wasn't able to enter for the last stretch; and 2.) if I could access the site, whether they’d announced the winners. No word on the winners, but the folks at Audi have posted an informative little SWEEPS SUMMARY.

A total of 22,000 people registered for the sweeps (all those zeros make me nervous about the accuracy of the tabulations – are they sure it wasn’t more like 22,002?). There was a grand total of 67,756 entries. I’m thinking I entered at least 40 times. That means my chances of winning are, well, are what? I don’t believe I’ve ever done math in public before. I don’t know if this is the best time to start, because I’m not perfectly sure how to calculate my chances here. I’m feeling a wave of diffidence looming on the horizon. I think the correct answer is 1 in 1,694, because that’s what 67,756 divided by 40 equals, mas o menos.

If this is correct, those are darn good odds. If it’s not correct, I’m a loser at math. Which doesn’t necessarily mean I won’t be a winner at something else. Also, not to go and be an a priori sore loser or anything, but if I had been able to access the site in the final stretch before the sweeps closed, my odds of winning would have increased to 1 in 1,355. If my math is correct, that is.

P.S. The preferred car of the SONNENALP RESORT is still the Lexus, NOT an Audi. So much for sponsor loyalty.