dice

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2 total messages Started by Paul Epstein Wed, 11 Nov 1992 05:16

#200

Author: Paul Epstein
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 05:16

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695 bytes

You may be interested to know that a U.S penny will land heads approximately
50.3 % of the time.  Does anyone happen to know how random most backgammon dice
are (assuming no deliberate cheating.)?

Re: dice

#201

Author: Ole Hoegh Jensen
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 11:36

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1641 bytes

Paul Epstein says:

Paul> Does anyone happen to know how random most backgammon dice
Paul> are (assuming no deliberate cheating.)?

On many dice (I don't know if it's most) the eyes are marked with
small holes as well as color. Therefore the six'es side must be
_slightly_ lighter than the ace's side etc., so six'es must have
(very slightly) more than 1/6 probability.

Actually Jeff Ward advocates in one of his books (I don't remember
which one) that in positions where you really need to roll double
six'es you should toss the dice high into the air. This is supposed to
give the heavier ace side a better chance to land downwards. As he
says (quoted from very distant memory): It won't make a big
difference, but you might as well use every little chance of improving
your odds.

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