Blackjack with Dice (Part I)

Five fair six-sided dice are rolled. The probability that the sum of the numbers facing up is exactly 21 21 can be expressed as m n \dfrac{m}{n} , where m m and n n are positive coprime integers. Find m + n m+n .

See Part II here .


The answer is 77.

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1 solution

Mark Hennings
Oct 15, 2019

The number N N of different ways in which five distinct dice can sum to 21 21 is equal to the coefficient of x 21 x^{21} in the polynomial ( x + x 2 + x 3 + x 4 + x 5 + x 6 ) 5 = ( x ( 1 x 6 ) 1 x ) 5 = x 5 ( 1 x 6 ) 5 ( 1 x ) 5 = x 5 ( 1 x ) 5 5 x 11 ( 1 x ) 5 + 10 x 16 ( 1 x ) 5 \begin{aligned} \big(x + x^2 + x^3 + x^4 + x^5 + x^6\big)^5 & = \; \left(\frac{x(1 - x^6)}{1-x}\right)^5 \; = \; x^5(1 - x^6)^5(1 - x)^{-5} \\ & = \; x^5(1 - x)^{-5} - 5x^{11}(1 - x)^{-5} + 10x^{16}(1 - x)^{-5} - \cdots \end{aligned} Since ( 1 x ) 5 = n 0 ( n + 4 4 ) x n x < 1 (1 - x)^{-5} \; = \; \sum_{n \ge 0}\binom{n+4}{4}x^n \hspace{2cm} |x| < 1 we deduce that N = ( 20 4 ) 5 ( 14 4 ) + 10 ( 8 4 ) = 540 N \; = \; \binom{20}{4} - 5\binom{14}{4} + 10\binom{8}{4} \; = \; 540 which makes the desired probability N 6 5 = 5 72 \frac{N}{6^5} \; = \; \frac{5}{72} so the answer is 5 + 72 = 77 5 + 72 = \boxed{77} .

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