Re: Dice Problem

[Dr Graham D Smith]

>Recently a colleague came in the office with the following problem: >Is there a way to 'load' two individual die so that all sums will be equally likely?   Although I doubt whether it is possible to load a pair of dice to produce results from a particular distribution it may be possible to load a single die. Obviously the uniform distribution required for George Perkins' original problem is easily achieved without having to load the dice. I have in front of me a die with twelve pentagonal faces that I bought from a Dungeons & Dragons gaming shop. (One can also get 4-sided, 8 sided, 20-sided and (most useful) ten sided dice).   However, a non-uniform distribution of results (e.g., conforming to the binomial distribution) could be achieved by varying the area of the faces. The larger the area of a face the more likely the die will come to rest upon it. The centre of gravity of the die will no doubt be affected but I am sure somebody cleverer than me could figure out how to compensate for this. Graham ************************************************* Dr Graham D. Smith Psychology Division Park Campus University College Northampton Boughton Green Rd. Northampton NN2 7AL   Tel: +44 (0) 1604 735500 Ext 2393 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *************************************************