| 
 
 
 
Question 72870:  When two fair dice are rolled, the sum of the two dice can be any number from 2 through 12.  What is the probability that this sum will be exactly a 7?  Please show me how to solve this. 
 Found 2 solutions by  jmg, stanbon: Answer by jmg(22)      (Show Source): 
You can  put this solution on YOUR website! This is hard to explain on here but I will try.
 
If you look at all the possible combinations: 
1+1=2 
1+2=3 
. 
. 
. 
1+6=7
 
then go to the 2's, you have already used 1+ 2 so now start with  
2+2=4 
2+3=5 
. 
2+5=7 
2+6=8
 
then go to the 3's, etc. 
 
When you finish with all the combos, up through 6+6. You will have a total of 21 combinations that could occur when rolling two fair dice.
 
If you look through them you will see that there are 3 combinations that will add up to 7.
 
So the probability that you will roll a sum of 7 is 3/21, which reduces to 1/7
 
 
 Answer by stanbon(75887)      (Show Source): 
You can  put this solution on YOUR website! When two dice are rolled there are 36 possible face patterns: 6*6 
The patterns that give a sum of 7 are: (1,6)(2,5)(3,4)(4,3)(5,2)(6,1) 
So there are 7 of the 36 patterns that have a sum of 7. 
Therefore the probability of getting a sum of 7 is 7/36 
Cheers, 
Stan H. 
  | 
 
  
 
 |   
 
 |   
 |  |