Three fair 6-sided dice are rolled simultaneously. The probability that the sum of the numbers of the top face of the dice is 9 or less can be expressed as a fraction , where and are coprime positive integers. Evaluate .
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The minimum sum is 3:
Sum of 3: ( 1 , 1 , 1 0 ) → 1 way
Sum of 4: ( 1 , 2 , 1 ) → 3 ways
Sum of 5: { 1 , 2 , ( 1 , 3 , 1 ) → 3 w a y s ( 1 , 2 , 2 ) → 3 w a y s ⟹ 6 ways
Sum of 6: ⎩ ⎪ ⎨ ⎪ ⎧ 1 , 2 , 3 , ( 1 , 1 , 4 ) → 3 w a y s ( 1 , 2 , 3 ) → 6 w a y s ( 2 , 2 , 2 ) → 1 w a y ⟹ 10 ways
Sum of 7: ⎩ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎨ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎧ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , ( 1 , 1 , 5 ) → 3 w a y s ( 1 , 2 , 4 ) → 6 w a y s ( 1 , 3 , 3 ) → 3 w a y s ( 2 , 3 , 2 ) → 3 w a y s ⟹ 15 ways
Sum of 8: ⎩ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎨ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎧ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , ( 1 , 1 , 6 ) → 3 w a y s ( 1 , 2 , 5 ) → 6 w a y s ( 1 , 3 , 4 ) → 6 w a y s ( 2 , 2 , 4 ) → 3 w a y s ( 2 , 3 , 3 ) → 3 w a y s ⟹ 21 ways
Sum of 9: ⎩ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎨ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ⎧ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , ( 1 , 2 , 6 ) → 6 w a y s ( 1 , 2 , 4 ) → 6 w a y s ( 1 , 3 , 3 ) → 3 w a y s ( 2 , 3 , 4 ) → 6 w a y s ( 2 , 5 , 2 ) → 3 w a y s ( 3 , 3 , 3 ) → 1 w a y ⟹ 25 ways
6 3 1 + 3 + 6 + 1 0 + 1 5 + 2 1 + 2 5 ≡ 2 1 6 8 1 ≡ 8 3 ⟹ 3 + 8 = 1 1