Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / CEMC Fermat /391 of 566

CEMC Fermat, 2024

Combinatorics Difficulty 2.7 Junior Find the answer Canada

Three standard six-sided dice are rolled. The sum of the three
numbers rolled, SS, is determined.
The probability that S gt;5\text{S gt;5} is
closest to

Pick one

Solution

Suppose that when the three dice are rolled, the numbers rolled
are xx, yy and zz.

Since there are 6 possibilities for each of xx, yy
and zz, there are 6⋅6⋅6=2166 \cdot 6 \cdot 6 = 216 possible
outcomes.

Also, the sum, SS, of the three
rolls is at least 3⋅1=33 \cdot 1 = 3 and
at most 3⋅6=183 \cdot 6 = 18.

The outcome "S gt; 5\text{S gt; 5}" is the
complement of the outcome "S≤5S \leq 5".

Thus, the probability that S gt;5\text{S gt;5}
is 11 minus the probability that
S≤5S \leq 5.

It is easier to compute the probability that S≤5S \leq 5 directly by listing the rolls
that give this.

If S=3S = 3, then x+y+z=3x+y+z=3 and so (x,y,z)=(1,1,1)(x,y,z)=(1,1,1).

If S=4S = 4, then x+y+z=4x+y+z=4 and so xx, yy
and zz must be 11, 11
and 22 in some order. Thus, (x,y,z)=(2,1,1)(x,y,z) = (2,1,1) or (1,2,1)(1,2,1) or (1,1,2)(1,1,2).

If S=5S = 5, then x+y+z=5x+y+z=5 and so xx, yy
and zz must be 11, 11
and 33, or 11, 22
and 22 in some order. There are
33 arrangements in each case and so
66 triples in total.

Therefore, there are 1+3+6=101 + 3 + 6 = 10
triples with S≤5S \leq 5, and so the
probability that S gt; 5\text{S gt; 5} is equal
to 1−10216≈0.9541 - \frac{10}{216} \approx 0.954.

Of the given choices, this is closest to 0.950.95.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,604 problems in a working order, from Junior Challenge level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: CEMC, University of Waterloo, licensed CC-BY-NC-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.