Completely OT: Numbers on a die

[The Medway Handyman]

How many people DON'T know that the numbers on opposite sides of a dice add up to 7?

I'd always thought 'every schoolboy knows that' but apparently not.

[Andy Burns]

Dunno

[Bob Eager]

(you got the Subject: correct but spoiled it in the main text....'dice'???)

[Mary Fisher]

But in the past it wasn't always thus.

Every possible combination has been found in digs.

Mary

[Cerberus .]

As in archaeological or student accommodation?

Mind you, thinking about it...probably both ;-)

Don.

[Dave Liquorice]

And this one, but then you don't need a die or dice to use a gameboy or playstation.

[geoff]

In message , The Medway Handyman writes

Well yes, its just one of those things you ... know

[Huge]

Which, among many other things, many people *don't* know, which can be seen if one is a follower of quiz shows. "Surely *everybody* knows that?" Apparently not.

[Appelation Controlee]

Even though Dave marked his posting OT, the correct term might have put the other meaning in mind.

[OG]

Assuming you are playing with D6 (cubical) dice of course.

[nightjar]

I have dice where that isn't true, as will anyone else who played Dungeons and Dragons with pencil and paper. Of course, for the six sided dice I have, it is true.

Colin Bignell

[The Night Tripper]

I've 'always' known that, but then I too have been interested in magic tricks etc. from an early age. It's a bit of knowledge that goes with that territory for one.

J^n

[The Natural Philosopher]

Whih seeing as how most dice have the numbers drilled into them, would slightly favour throwing a six..over a one.

[The Medway Handyman]

I was talking normal dice. I do have a 'force' die that has no number 2, both opposite faces show a 5.

[unopened]

messagenews:_UnBk.60878$ [e-mail]...> How many people DON'T know that the numbers on opposite sides of a dice

If you assume that the number of spots on opposite faces should add up to 7, then there are two possible arrangements of the spots on cubical dice, and those two arrangements are mirror images of each other.

More fun can be had with other dice.

Sicherman dice (

) "have the same odds for throwing every number as a normal pair of 6- sided dice", but are numbered completely differently.

Efron's dice (

) are called 'nontransitive dice. "A set of four nontransitive dice such that the probabilities of A winning against B, B against C, C against D, and D against A are all 2:1"

There are other patterns that have the same properties as Efron's dice. They allow a scam in which you can freely choose any die from a selection offered to you and the scam artist simply chooses another which will tend to win against you. Most people don't believe that non- transitive dice are possible.

Cheers,

Sid

[ARWadworth]

How many people DON'T know how to erect flat pack furniture that comes with the instructions but instead have to pay you to do it?

Never assume that a thought is a fact, but always assume a fact is a thought.

Adam

[nightjar]

To a D&D player, an octahedron or icosahedron die is a normal die.

Colin Bignell

[The Medway Handyman]

Thanks for that Sid, very interesting.

[The Medway Handyman]

I've never played Colin so I wouldn't know. Would you accept 'regular' die or 'common' die :-)

BTW these people have the largest selection of die/dice I've ever seen;