Riddler Express
I have three dice \((d4, d6, d8)\) on my desk that I fiddle with while working, much to the chagrin of my co-workers. For the uninitiated, the \(d4\) is a tetrahedron that is equally likely to land on any of its four faces (numbered \(1\) through \(4\)), the \(d6\) is a cube that is equally likely to land on any of its six faces (numbered \(1\) through \(6\)), and the \(d8\) is an octahedron that is equally likely to land on any of its eight faces (numbered \(1\) through \(8\)).
I like to play a game in which I roll all three dice in “numerical” order: \(d4\), then \(d6\) and then \(d8\). I win this game when the three rolls form a strictly increasing sequence (such as \(2-4-7\), but not \(2-4-4\)). What is my probability of winning?
Extra credit: Instead of three dice, I now have six dice: \(d4, d6, d8, d10, d12\) and \(d20\). If I roll all six dice in “numerical” order, what is the probability I’ll get a strictly increasing sequence?
Computational solution
From the simulation below, we see that the probability of the winning with \(d4, d6\) and \(d8\) is \(\textbf{0.25}\) and the probability of winning with \(d4, d6, d8, d10, d12\) and \(d20\) is \(\textbf{0.0118}\).
from random import choice
def prob(dice_num_faces, runs=10000000):
dice = {n:list(range(1, n+1)) for n in dice_num_faces}
cnt_succ = 0
for _ in range(runs):
roll = [choice(dice[d]) for d in sorted(dice.keys())]
cnt_succ += all(i < j for i, j in zip(roll, roll[1:]))
return cnt_succ/runs
print(prob([4,6,8]))
print(prob([4,6,8,10,12,20]))