Phil rolls 6 fair 6-sided dice. What is the probability that at least two dice show the same number?
3 answers
alias/jiskha -- please use the same name for your posts. Jiskha is not an appropriate name.
Hello, alias.
AoPS solution
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The only way in which there won't be two dice of the same number is if for each number between 1 and 6 there is exactly one die displaying that number. If we line the dice up, there are a total of $6!$ ways in which we could order 6 dice all displaying different numbers and a total of $6^6$ possible outcomes since each of the 6 dice can have 6 outcomes and all of the rolls are determined independently. That means that the probability of all of the dice showing different numbers is $\dfrac{6!}{6^6}=\dfrac{5}{324}$, so the probability that we want is $1-\dfrac{5}{324}=\boxed{\dfrac{319}{324}}$.
AoPS solution
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The only way in which there won't be two dice of the same number is if for each number between 1 and 6 there is exactly one die displaying that number. If we line the dice up, there are a total of $6!$ ways in which we could order 6 dice all displaying different numbers and a total of $6^6$ possible outcomes since each of the 6 dice can have 6 outcomes and all of the rolls are determined independently. That means that the probability of all of the dice showing different numbers is $\dfrac{6!}{6^6}=\dfrac{5}{324}$, so the probability that we want is $1-\dfrac{5}{324}=\boxed{\dfrac{319}{324}}$.
You seem to be having an identity crisis. guest = alias = jiskha.
2 answers