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MasterMath

Football Pools Calculator

How many lines a pools coupon with doubles and trebles comes to, and what it costs to fill in. The multiples grow much faster than they look.

Lines you play

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Lines you play—
What it costs—
Matches on a single result—
Chance of getting all 14—
Possible combinations—

How this was worked out

    The formula

    lines = 2 to the power of the doubles × 3 to the power of the trebles

    Where it comes from

    Every match marked as a double multiplies the number of lines by two, and every treble multiplies it by three. Because the factors multiply against each other the count grows exponentially: four doubles and two trebles is already 144 lines, and eight doubles with four trebles passes twenty thousand.

    How to work it out by hand

    1. Count the matches marked as doubles and raise two to that power
    2. Do the same with the trebles as a power of three
    3. Multiply the two results together
    4. Multiply by the price of a line

    What is worth knowing

    It is worth keeping the scale in mind: fourteen matches on three results each give 4,782,969 possible combinations. A coupon of 144 lines covers 0.003 % of them. Multiples do not improve your chance per unit spent, they only concentrate the spending on the results you think most likely, which is a judgement call rather than a mathematical one.

    Frequently asked questions

    How many lines are four doubles and two trebles?

    144 lines: 2⁴ × 3² = 16 × 9.

    How many combinations does a pools coupon have?

    4,782,969, which is 3 to the power of 14.

    Is it worth playing lots of doubles?

    It does not improve the chance per unit spent. It only concentrates the spending on the results you think likeliest.

    What does a coupon with eight doubles cost?

    256 lines. At a typical line price, around 192.