Sujay Mishra

Due Date: 3/20/2017

What is the most probable sum?:

A Lab Report on Dice Probability

Abstract:

This dice probability experiment allows one to simulate throwing a pair of dice and see

what the result is. The objective for this experiment is to roll a pair of dice 100 times and record

the result for each trail. The person doing the experiment has to come up with something that

he/she wants to prove by analyzing what the data shows. I used a random number generating

function in Excel to roll two theoretical die 100 times. I wanted to find out what sum is most

probable to be rolled out of 100 times. After collecting all the sums from the raw data, I

calculated the probability of all the sums in percent. According to my results, seven is the most

probable sum to occur. However, since this is a probability experiment, one should never rely on

this data to be accurate all the time.

Introduction:

Probability, by definition, is the chance that something will happen. In other words, how

likely it is that some event will happen. In this case, we are looking for the probability of how

likely a particular sum is rolled from two dice. There are six sides on each die which means six

different outcomes for each trial for one hundred times. Not having two actual dice, I used Excel

and created a function that randomly generates a number between 1 through 6 for two theoretical

dice.
Materials:

Computer (since I did not have any dice)

Methodology:

The first and most important thing that I did was make the function with the help of

Excel. By creating two separate columns for two theoretical dice and a column for the sum, I

could appropriately apply a random number generating function between the numbers 1 6 and

then find the sum for each time a number was generated for both columns. Once all the sums had

been calculated from the raw data, I calculated the percentage of how probable each possible

sum was.

Results:

Probability of Sums in Percent

25

20

15

Percentage
10

0
Sums

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Analysis:

Looking back at the purpose of this experiment, the analysis gives a clear answer as to

which sum is most likely probable to be rolled out of 100 times of rolling dice. I did it out of 100

times so it would be easier to calculate the percentage. The data approaches normal distribution

for all the sums. The most probable sums are six, seven, and eight, with seven being the most

probable at 20%. There is only one way to roll a two but six ways to roll a seven, so the odds of

rolling a seven are six times higher than getting snake eyes. Comparing my own results with

another source called Mathworld, seven is the highest probable sum to occur. The data that they

came up with coincides with my own also showing signs of a normal distribution among the

sums. The middle sum is usually the most probable even while increasing the number of dice

used in their experiment (Weisstein, Dice). This can raise another question which is, What

factors can affect the result of two dice being rolled?.

Conclusion:

The most probable sum to be rolled from two dice is a seven. This was clearly shown in

my data. Even though I did not use real dice, the function that I used simulated real life quite

accurately. When compared with a different experiment, my data seems to coincide with the

other sources findings. One should not follow this data extensively since it is from a probability

experiment and randomly generated by a computer. This is just the likelihood of some result to

occur. It is something to be experimented with several times with different factors and changes

made to see how the data changes and in what ways.

Works Cited:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Dice." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource.

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Dice.html