Advent calendar 2020
5 December
Carol rolled a large handful of six-sided dice. The total of all the numbers Carol got was 521. After some calculating, Carol worked out that the probability that of her total being 521
was the same as the probability that her total being 200. How many dice did Carol roll?
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The totals that are equally likely add up to 7 times the number of dice.
This can be seen by using the fact that the opposite sides of a dice add up to 7: for each way of making a given total with \(n\) dice, there is a way of making \(7n\) minus that total
by looking at the dice from below. Therefore \(T\) and \(7n-T\) are equally likely. (This also holds true (but is harder to explain) if you rearrange the faces of the dice so that the opposite
faces no longer add to 7.)
Therefore today's number is \((521+200)/7\), which is 103.
