The lottery number is a random string of hexadecimal numbers that the NYC Department of Education assigns to students as part of their school admission process. The number is used to determine student preferences for schools with open seats and break ties between otherwise similarly ranked applicants for schools that use a lottery system for admission.

The number is based on a number of factors, including student choice and preference rankings of their preferred schools. Those preferences and rankings are entered into a computer program that optimizes the results based on other inputs, such as school zone boundaries, system priorities (i.e., set-asides for low income students), and school capacity.

Each year, families apply to more than 400 high-demand schools in New York City. The DOE selects which schools a student will attend by using an algorithm that combines student choices with school capacity, the rankings of their preferred schools by other students, and the city’s systems of priority and preference for certain groups of students.

In the early stages of the lottery, the DOE refused to provide families with their lottery numbers or much information about the process. This is despite Mayor de Blasio’s stated commitment to transparency in the city’s automated decision systems, including the yearly school admissions lottery.

There are many websites that offer lottery number calculators. But what if there was a more effective way to pick your numbers? One popular method involves studying patterns in previous lottery draws. This is time consuming but can yield an edge over other players.