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Post by rsmith7 on Mar 17, 2011 15:36:38 GMT 1
Having got my ass kicked by our 5 yo at snakes and ladders, I'm still smarting but fairly impressed. She did it in 4 throws of the dice. This is the absolute minimum possible. What are the chances of this? My very average skills lead me to believe it's simply 4 x 6:1 but my instinct tells me it must be much "harder".
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Post by speakertoanimals on Mar 21, 2011 16:45:44 GMT 1
If it requires 4 specific numbers in a particular order, then the probability is just (1/6)^4, or 1/1296.
Your mistake was multiplying the possibilities, rather than than multiplying the probabilities.
So, 6 possible throws of one dice, but 6x6 = 36 possible ordered pairs of throws with 2 dice, not 2x6=12.
Hence your intuition that it was more unlikely was correct.
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Post by rsmith7 on Mar 21, 2011 19:48:52 GMT 1
Thank you! My god, a civilised answer! Lucky I don't play poker.
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Post by speakertoanimals on Mar 22, 2011 3:31:41 GMT 1
Beware small children and games -- they are either embarrassingly good, or cry if you get too competitive and play to win, at which point everyone else accuses you of being unfair...........
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