Problema Solution

An ordinary (fair) die is a cube with the numbers 1 through 6 on the sides (represented by painted spots). Imagine that such a die is rolled twice in succession and that the face values of the two rolls are added together. This sum is recorded as the outcome of a single trial of a random experiment. Compute the probability of each of the following events: Event A: The sum is greater than 8. Event B : The sum is an even number. Write your answers as exact fractions.

Answer provided by our tutors

There are 36 ways the two rolls could come up, and they are all equally likely:

(1,1) (1,2) (1,3) (1,4) (1,5) (1,6)

(2,1) (2,2) (2,3) (2,4) (2,5) (2,6)

(3,1) (3,2) (3,3) (3,4) (3,5) (3,6)

(4,1) (4,2) (4,3) (4,4) (4,5) (4,6)

(5,1) (5,2) (5,3) (5,4) (5,5) (5,6)

(6,1) (6,2) (6,3) (6,4) (6,5) (6,6)

Event A: The sum is greater than 8.

I will bold out the ones which have a sum greater than 8:


(1,1) (1,2) (1,3) (1,4) (1,5) (1,6)

(2,1) (2,2) (2,3) (2,4) (2,5) (2,6)

(3,1) (3,2) (3,3) (3,4) (3,5) (3,6)

(4,1) (4,2) (4,3) (4,4) (4,5) (4,6)

(5,1) (5,2) (5,3) (5,4) (5,5) (5,6)

(6,1) (6,2) (6,3) (6,4) (6,5) (6,6)

There are 10 out of the entire 36 that have a sum greater than 8, so

P(A) = 8/36 

P(A) = 2/9 


Event B: The sum is divisible by 2 (even number).

I will bold out the ones which have a sum divisible by 2:

(1,1) (1,2) (1,3) (1,4) (1,5) (1,6)

(2,1) (2,2) (2,3) (2,4) (2,5) (2,6)

(3,1) (3,2) (3,3) (3,4) (3,5) (3,6)

(4,1) (4,2) (4,3) (4,4) (4,5) (4,6)

(5,1) (5,2) (5,3) (5,4) (5,5) (5,6)

(6,1) (6,2) (6,3) (6,4) (6,5) (6,6)

There are 18 bold out of the entire 36 that have a sum divisible by 2, so

P(B) = 18/36

P(B) = 1/2