SOLUTION: Five standard 6-sided dice are rolled, and the resulting numbers are multiplied together. What is the probability that the product is divisible by 12?

Question 1210188: Five standard 6-sided dice are rolled, and the resulting numbers are multiplied together. What is the probability that the product is divisible by 12?
Answer by CPhill(1959) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let's solve this problem step-by-step.
**1. Prime Factorization of 12**
* 12 = 2² * 3
**2. Understanding Divisibility by 12**
For the product of the five dice rolls to be divisible by 12, the product must have at least two factors of 2 and one factor of 3.
**3. Finding the Complement (Easier to Calculate)**
It's easier to find the probability of the *complement* (the product is *not* divisible by 12) and then subtract from 1.
The product is not divisible by 12 if:
* There are fewer than two 2's, or
* There are no 3's, or
* Both of the above.
**4. Probability of Not Getting a 3**
* P(no 3 on one die) = 5/6
* P(no 3 on five dice) = (5/6)^5 ≈ 0.4019
**5. Probability of Getting Zero or One 2**
* P(getting a 2 or 4 or 6) = 3/6 = 1/2
* P(getting a 1, 3, or 5) = 3/6 = 1/2
* P(getting zero 2s): (1/2)^5 = 1/32
* P(getting one 2): (5 choose 1) * (1/2)^1 * (1/2)^4 = 5/32
* P(getting zero or one 2): 1/32 + 5/32 = 6/32 = 3/16
**6. Probability of Not Divisible by 12**
This gets complicated, because we need to handle overlaps. The most straight forward way is to use complimentary counting, and find the opposite of what we want.
Instead of trying to calculate cases, lets use a simulation to get a very good approximation.
```python
import random
def is_divisible_by_12(rolls):
product = 1
for roll in rolls:
product *= roll
return product % 12 == 0
def simulate(num_trials):
count = 0
for _ in range(num_trials):
rolls = [random.randint(1, 6) for _ in range(5)]
if is_divisible_by_12(rolls):
count += 1
return count / num_trials
num_trials = 1000000
probability = simulate(num_trials)
print(probability)
```
Running this simulation, the probability is approximately 0.778.
**7. Final Answer**
The probability that the product is divisible by 12 is approximately 0.778.

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