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Fair Die


A fair die is a die whose possible face outcomes have equal probability under a specified rolling experiment. For a die with n possible face outcomes, each therefore has probability 1/n (Pegg 2005).

An isohedron provides fairness by symmetry when the rolling experiment and the die's mass distribution respect its face-transitive symmetries. These symmetries interchange any two faces without changing their probabilities, so all face outcomes have equal probability. This is a sufficient symmetry condition, rather than the definition of probabilistic fairness. Unintended manufacturing defects, deliberate changes to the die's shape or mass distribution, or a biased rolling experiment can invalidate the symmetry argument (Pegg 2005).


See also

Dice, Isohedron, Probability

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References

Pegg, E. Jr. "Math Games: Fair Dice." May 16, 2005. https://www.mathpuzzle.com/MAA/37-Fair%20Dice/mathgames_05_16_05.html.

Referenced on Wolfram|Alpha

Fair Die

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Fair Die." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/FairDie.html

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