Probability

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Jia7

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WHAT IS THE PROBABILITY THAT YOU WILL THROW A SUM OF 6 IN TWO TOSSES OF A DIE?
A. 1/18
B. 1/12
C. 1/9
D. 5/36
E. 1/6

The solution says the answer is E. I thought it should be D. :-/ What do you guys think?
 
I think they're saying that you're throwing a single die. So, probability of throwing a 6 the first time = 1/6.....probability of throwing a second 6 is again 1/6. There are six different sides (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) so the chances it lands on 6 are 1/6. The only place this is kind of tricky is the fact that they say you do it twice. So, in reality, the answer should be 1/3....(1/6 x 2). So basically you have double the chances of getting a six if you roll twice as opposed to if you only rolled the die once. Hmmm...I'm confused now lol. Is this a destroyer problem? Sounds like it haha
 
I think they're saying that you're throwing a single die. So, probability of throwing a 6 the first time = 1/6.....probability of throwing a second 6 is again 1/6. There are six different sides (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) so the chances it lands on 6 are 1/6. The only place this is kind of tricky is the fact that they say you do it twice. So, in reality, the answer should be 1/3....(1/6 x 2). So basically you have double the chances of getting a six if you roll twice as opposed to if you only rolled the die once. Hmmm...I'm confused now lol. Is this a destroyer problem? Sounds like it haha

The probability is depandant on the first outcome. So, you can roll either 1,2,3,4,5 (not 6) on the first die so the probability of rolling those is 5/6. For the second roll the probability of rolling the complimentary number lets say first one was 1 second one has to be 5 for the sum to equal 6. So that outcome is 1/6. So answer should be 5/36. Not sure how they go 1/6. Where did you get the question from?
 
I'm not that great at probability but here are my thoughts:

To roll a sum of 6 in two tosses of one die, there are a couple of ways you can do this:

Roll 1 and 5 (or 5 and 1)
Roll 2 and 4 (or 4 and 2)
Roll 3 and 3 (or 3 and 3)

That's 6 possible ways to roll a sum of 6. There are 6^2 = 36 possible combinations you could roll. So the probability is 6/36 = 1/6. Does this make sense? Can anyone confirm this?
 
I'm not that great at probability but here are my thoughts:

To roll a sum of 6 in two tosses of one die, there are a couple of ways you can do this:

Roll 1 and 5 (or 5 and 1)
Roll 2 and 4 (or 4 and 2)
Roll 3 and 3 (or 3 and 3)

That's 6 possible ways to roll a sum of 6. There are 6^2 = 36 possible combinations you could roll. So the probability is 6/36 = 1/6. Does this make sense? Can anyone confirm this?

confirmed
 
I'm not that great at probability but here are my thoughts:

To roll a sum of 6 in two tosses of one die, there are a couple of ways you can do this:

Roll 1 and 5 (or 5 and 1)
Roll 2 and 4 (or 4 and 2)
Roll 3 and 3 (or 3 and 3)

That's 6 possible ways to roll a sum of 6. There are 6^2 = 36 possible combinations you could roll. So the probability is 6/36 = 1/6. Does this make sense? Can anyone confirm this?

I disagree and am inclined to go with the same answer as Jia7. Since the same die is thrown twice, from a sequential perspective, the only way to land a sum of 6 is by rolling 1-5 the first time, and then its complement the second time, so 5 pairs out of 36 total. With an answer of 6/36, you imply you count the 3-3 roll twice, which should not be the case, since 3-3' and 3'-3 is the exact same throw. Look at the possible ways the throws can land:

1-1...2-1...3-1...4-1...5-1...6-1
1-2...2-2...3-2...4-2...5-2...6-2
1-3...2-3...3-3...4-3...5-3...6-3
1-4...2-4...3-4...4-4...5-4...6-4
1-5...2-5...3-5...4-5...5-5...6-5
1-6...2-6...3-6...4-6...5-6...6-6

out of 36 possible throws only five of them add up to 6: 5/36 should be your answer.
 
DQLEUCD and UCB05 are right. Just looked it up online. The internet is wonderful. 😛
 
I disagree and am inclined to go with the same answer as Jia7. Since the same die is thrown twice, from a sequential perspective, the only way to land a sum of 6 is by rolling 1-5 the first time, and then its complement the second time, so 5 pairs out of 36 total. With an answer of 6/36, you imply you count the 3-3 roll twice, which should not be the case, since 3-3' and 3'-3 is the exact same throw. Look at the possible ways the throws can land:

1-1...2-1...3-1...4-1...5-1...6-1
1-2...2-2...3-2...4-2...5-2...6-2
1-3...2-3...3-3...4-3...5-3...6-3
1-4...2-4...3-4...4-4...5-4...6-4
1-5...2-5...3-5...4-5...5-5...6-5
1-6...2-6...3-6...4-6...5-6...6-6

out of 36 possible throws only five of them add up to 6: 5/36 should be your answer.

You shouldnt count the ones that popped up 6 for the first throw...

so it is really 5/30 = 1/6
 
You shouldnt count the ones that popped up 6 for the first throw...

so it is really 5/30 = 1/6

We're talking probability here. We cannot take out the 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, 6-5, 6-6 because they are all part of the probability. If it was a 5 sided die then it would be ok. But you are skewing the numbers in your favor to get the answer. If you did take 6 out of the equation. The probability of rolling 1-5 on the first chance is 1/1 or 100% and the probability of rolling it's complimentary number to add up to 6 is 1/5. You multiply the probabilities of the first and second roll and you get the probability of rolling a number that will add up to 6. The logic in how you just take out 6 of the probability outcomes does not make sense.
 
My answer would be 5/36 as well.

It's definitely 5/36

Like someone said earlier, to roll a sum of six you can roll anything you want on the first dice besides a 6 (odds are 5/6). Then on the second dice, assuming you didn't roll a 6, you only have one number available to get to 6 (odds 1/6). Multiply together to get 5/36.

The odds of rolling a 7 are the highest possible for two rolls and are 1/6. So the odds to roll a six have to be lower than that so the answer cannot be 1/6
 
It's definitely 5/36

Like someone said earlier, to roll a sum of six you can roll anything you want on the first dice besides a 6 (odds are 5/6). Then on the second dice, assuming you didn't roll a 6, you only have one number available to get to 6 (odds 1/6). Multiply together to get 5/36.

The odds of rolling a 7 are the highest possible for two rolls and are 1/6. So the odds to roll a six have to be lower than that so the answer cannot be 1/6

Ah, best explanation, makes complete sense~ The odds are only 5/6 x 1/6 because you need an exact number to fit the first number pulled. Ex: Pulled a 4 first roll (5/6), you need exactly a 2 to match, so 1/6 chance for this to happen.. similarly with 3+3, 2+4, etc.

👍


*The only question still, is if 3-3' the same thing as rolling 3'-3.. I would think it's the same so you would only count it once, but I think Jia's question includes it as a second possibility (thus where the extra roll comes from).
 
Ah, best explanation, makes complete sense~ The odds are only 5/6 x 1/6 because you need an exact number to fit the first number pulled. Ex: Pulled a 4 first roll (5/6), you need exactly a 2 to match, so 1/6 chance for this to happen.. similarly with 3+3, 2+4, etc.

👍


*The only question still, is if 3-3' the same thing as rolling 3'-3.. I would think it's the same so you would only count it once, but I think Jia's question includes it as a second possibility (thus where the extra roll comes from).


Yea you got it. 3-3' is the same as 3'-3. If you think about the method you described above, each succesful sum of a 6 is due to the initial roll + it's "conjugate" roll to get to 6. And since there are only 5 initial rolls that can be paired with a "conjugate roll" to succesfully sum to 6, these are the 5 events that should be divided by the 36 possible events.
 
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