Maryland Lottery Pick 3 Combinations Generator

This utility generates all the combinations of a selected set of Maryland Pick 3 digits, as non-repeating and/or doubled-digit numbers (also triples), based on the option(s) set by the user.

Sometimes a player may wish to play all the possible Pick 3 numbers that are made up of only odd digits: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9. Or, he/she may wish to play the last four digits of a telephone number such as 2837. In either case, the intent is to generate all the possible 3-digit Pick 3 numbers from numbers that consist of 3 or more digits. The user may choose to generate numbers with either non-repeating digits or one-repeating digits (doubles), or both. Just to make the utility complete we have also included the Triples.

To better understand the following explanations, you may open the Pick 3 Combinations Generator window now and execute the examples yourself.

To select a set of digits just click on the buttons layed out vertically on the left. Click on a digit to select it; click again to unselect it. For instance, if you want to play all non-repeating and doubles combinations of the number 2837, just click on those four digits, mark the checkboxes beside 'non-repeats' and 'one-repeats', then click on the 'Generate' button. The result will be four non-repeating and twelve doubles Pick 3 numbers. Note that the generated Pick 3 numbers are arranged in their natural (ascending) order; thus they are meant only for box(combo) play types. It is upto the user to rearrange the orders for a straight play.

Although you can generate the combinations of any sets of digits, it is absolutely not practical to play the combinations of more than 7 digits of the Pick 3 game. A set of 4 digits is excellent both for non-repeating and doubles. A 5-set combination is good if you wish to play only the non-repeats. A set of 3 digits is excellent and cheap for double-digit combinations. A 7- and 6-set combinations are good only for non-repeats; they are one too many for the doubles.

We have also supplied you with a 'Selection Assistant' part consisting of lists of grouped digits that contain all the possible 3-digit numbers. It is interesting to note that all the ten digits can be grouped into a number of groups less than 10 that contain all the possible 3-digit combinations. The purpose is to find the minimum number of such sets. The best we could come up with are 6 groups of 7, 10 groups of 6, 18 groups of 5, and 35 groups of 4. Theoretically, the number of sets cannot be less than 4, 6, 12, and 30, respectively, for the groups under consideration. We wrote an iterative computer program to generate these sets, and that is how we came up with 6, 10, 18 and 35. If anyone is knowlegeable with the branch of mathematics called combinatorics, please do us a favor by supplying us with sets less than ours.

Finally, if you are using Internet Explorer browser, you can copy the generated Maryland Pick 3 numbers onto the clipboard. Then open a text editor and paste them for printing or for documenting. (Sorry, other browsers may or may no be able to use this facility).