3D sample space?

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 a b \dfrac{a}{b} , where a a and b b are coprime positive integers. Evaluate a + b a+b .


The answer is 11.

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1 solution

Eamon Gupta
Jul 5, 2017

The minimum sum is 3:

Note that there are 3 ! = 6 3!=6 ways of ordering 3 distinct numbers but 3 ! n ! \frac{3!}{n!} ways of ordering 3 numbers with 'n' repeats

  • Sum of 3: ( 1 , 1 , 10 ) (1,1,10) \rightarrow 1 way

  • Sum of 4: ( 1 , 2 , 1 ) (1,2,1) \rightarrow 3 ways

  • Sum of 5: { 1 , ( 1 , 3 , 1 ) 3 w a y s 2 , ( 1 , 2 , 2 ) 3 w a y s \begin{cases} 1, & (1,3,1) \rightarrow 3 ways \\ 2, & (1,2,2) \rightarrow 3 ways \end{cases} \implies 6 ways

  • Sum of 6: { 1 , ( 1 , 1 , 4 ) 3 w a y s 2 , ( 1 , 2 , 3 ) 6 w a y s 3 , ( 2 , 2 , 2 ) 1 w a y \begin{cases} 1, & (1,1,4) \rightarrow 3 ways \\ 2, & (1,2,3) \rightarrow 6 ways \\3, & (2,2,2) \rightarrow 1 way \end{cases} \implies 10 ways

  • Sum of 7: { 1 , ( 1 , 1 , 5 ) 3 w a y s 2 , ( 1 , 2 , 4 ) 6 w a y s 3 , ( 1 , 3 , 3 ) 3 w a y s 4 , ( 2 , 3 , 2 ) 3 w a y s \begin{cases} 1, & (1,1,5) \rightarrow 3 ways \\ 2, & (1,2,4) \rightarrow 6 ways \\3, & (1,3,3) \rightarrow 3 ways \\ 4, & (2,3,2) \rightarrow 3 ways \end{cases} \implies 15 ways

  • Sum of 8: { 1 , ( 1 , 1 , 6 ) 3 w a y s 2 , ( 1 , 2 , 5 ) 6 w a y s 3 , ( 1 , 3 , 4 ) 6 w a y s 4 , ( 2 , 2 , 4 ) 3 w a y s 5 , ( 2 , 3 , 3 ) 3 w a y s \begin{cases} 1, & (1,1,6) \rightarrow 3 ways \\ 2, & (1,2,5) \rightarrow 6 ways \\3, & (1,3,4) \rightarrow 6 ways \\ 4, & (2,2,4) \rightarrow 3 ways \\ 5, & (2,3,3) \rightarrow 3 ways \end{cases} \implies 21 ways

  • Sum of 9: { 1 , ( 1 , 2 , 6 ) 6 w a y s 2 , ( 1 , 2 , 4 ) 6 w a y s 3 , ( 1 , 3 , 3 ) 3 w a y s 4 , ( 2 , 3 , 4 ) 6 w a y s 5 , ( 2 , 5 , 2 ) 3 w a y s 6 , ( 3 , 3 , 3 ) 1 w a y \begin{cases} 1, & (1,2,6) \rightarrow 6 ways \\ 2, & (1,2,4) \rightarrow 6 ways \\3, & (1,3,3) \rightarrow 3 ways \\ 4, & (2,3,4) \rightarrow 6 ways \\ 5, & (2,5,2) \rightarrow 3 ways \\ 6, & (3,3,3) \rightarrow 1 way \end{cases} \implies 25 ways

1 + 3 + 6 + 10 + 15 + 21 + 25 6 3 81 216 3 8 3 + 8 = 11 \frac{1+3+6+10+15+21+25}{6^3} \equiv \frac{81}{216} \equiv \frac{3}{8} \implies 3+8=\boxed{11}

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