Blackjack with Dice (Part II)

See Part I of the problem here .

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


The answer is 2395.

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1 solution

Mark Hennings
Oct 19, 2019

The number N n N_n of ways in which five distinguishable dice can show a total of n n is the coefficient of x n x^n 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 5 x 6 + 10 x 12 ) ( 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 - 5x^6 + 10x^{12} - \cdots)(1-x)^{-5} \end{aligned} and hence, 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 have N n = { ( n 1 4 ) 5 n 10 ( n 1 4 ) 5 ( n 7 4 ) 11 n 16 ( n 1 4 ) 5 ( n 7 4 ) + 10 ( n 13 4 ) 17 n 22 N_n \; =\; \left\{ \begin{array}{lll} \binom{n-1}{4} & \hspace{1cm} & 5 \le n \le 10 \\ \binom{n-1}{4} - 5\binom{n-7}{4} & & 11 \le n \le 16 \\ \binom{n-1}{4} - 5\binom{n-7}{4} + 10\binom{n-13}{4} & & 17 \le n \le 22 \end{array}\right. which is enough to calculate n = 5 21 N n = n = 0 16 ( n + 4 4 ) 5 n = 0 10 ( n + 4 4 ) + 10 n = 0 4 ( n + 4 4 ) = 6594 \sum_{n=5}^{21}N_n \; = \; \sum_{n=0}^{16} \binom{n+4}{4} - 5\sum_{n=0}^{10}\binom{n+4}{4} + 10\sum_{n=0}^4\binom{n+4}{4} \; = \; 6594 making the desired probability 6594 6 5 = 1099 1296 \frac{6594}{6^5} \; = \; \frac{1099}{1296} giving the answer 1099 + 1296 = 2395 1099 + 1296 = \boxed{2395} .

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