Optimizer

[stan]

We have a new plugin that allows optimizing the coverage of pairs/triplets/quads of your tickets in the package.

The plugin appears as a new filter in the Filters menu. You may select a set of numbers and then let the Optimizer to cover all pairs/triplets/quads combinations of these numbers with as few tickets from the package as possible.

The panel shows numbers from the package in bold italics, numbers in plain font do not occur in the package.
So you may choose the range of numbers to be 1 to 16, swap numbers on the panel and then optimize the package to cover all triplets from your 16 numbers with as few tickets as possible.
The Calculate Coverage button shows how many pairs/triplets/quads are currently covered from the selected range of numbers.

So go ahead and try it out, the final version of this Optimizer will be merged into the main application in the next Expert Lotto release.

The plugin dowload link is here: http://www.expertlotto.com/files/tmp/optimizer-1.0.0.plugin
You will also need the new version of the Expert Lotto library: http://www.expertlotto.com/files/tmp/expertlotto.jar

[Maryland]

Thanks!

[Maryland]

Using the optimizer I get out "of memory". Running 1.3gig Pent4 512Ram on windows XP. I know there is plenty of memory. Any ideas? Also the calculate button shows "n/a". The computer freezes on the out of memory.

Tom

[stan]

the optimizer algorithm is very memory hungry. it keeps in the memory the index of each ticket from the package and since each ticket covers 20 triplets in a 6/49 lottery then the amount of required memory increases 20 fold.
the algorithm could be implemented to use files for temporary storage but it would make it unbearably slow (lots of disk i/o).

each ticket index needs approx 20 bytes of memory (don't quote me though ) so to optimize the full package you need 14million x 20 x 20 you need over 5 gigs of free ram. :vogel:

it's working fine for me when i optimize a file with 5000 tickets (i have pentium 3 with 512megs of ram). i haven't tested the optimizer for larger files yet.

other problem is that when java runtime starts it takes only a portion of your free memory. try editing the '[m]expertlotto.cmd[/m]' script file in the bin directory in application's install dir (make a backup first!).
add the following switch directly after the java command: -Xmx256M
e.g. "java -Xmx256M -cp ..."
this increases the maximum amount of memory java can use. of course you can specify even more.
another option is -XX:+AggressiveHeap which instructs the java runtime to scrap every free byte of your memory and use it for java only. but your other aplications may run a bit a slow while expert lotto is running.

important note: you must start expert lotto by doubleclicking the modified script file. if you use the start menu then java & expert lotto will be started with default memory settings.

[stan]

the optimizer is actually targeted for situations when after some filtering you have 300-500 tickets left in the package. you think that according to your strategy these tickets look good but there's too many of them to play them all.

so here comes the optimizer which picks just a few original tickets to cover a chosen range of triplets thus giving you a guarantee of winning.

so you play tickets filtered by your strategy and have the win guarantee at the same time.

[Maryland]

Ok so the optimizer should be the last filter or till I'm down to a reasonable amout of tickets. Makes sense. Your export function is great when using it for excel. I'm liking this program the more I learn about it. Been following you around to other forums to find out things

[stan]

i'm sure there's plenty of features you haven't explored yet.

and if you're missing some feature(s) don't hesitate to ask for it. e.g. implementing a new filter is a job for just a couple of hours...

[stan]

Please be advised that there's a bug in the Optimizer in version 4.0.10. The filter does not optimize the coverage of quads correctly. The last number in the ticket is not taken into account so the number of all quads the ticket covers is not correct.

The problem applies to quads optimization only, optimizing for pairs and triplets is ok. The bug will be fixed in the next Expert Lotto release.

I apologize for any problems caused. :red:

[stan]

you can download a temporary hotfix to fix the bug in the optimizer. the download link is:
http://www.expertlotto.com/files/hotfix/expertlotto.jar

copy the downloaded file into the [m]lib [/m]dir in application's install dir (e.g. [m]c:program filesexpertlottolib[/m]). the hotfix version is labeled as 4.0.10 build 401.