Two unbiased dice marked from 1 to 6 are tossed together. The probabil

Two unbiased dice marked from 1 to 6 are tossed together. The probability of the sum of the outcomes to be 7 in a single throw is

1/6
2/3
4/13
7/13
This question was previously asked in
UPSC CISF-AC-EXE – 2019
When two unbiased dice, each marked from 1 to 6, are tossed together, the total number of possible outcomes is the product of the number of outcomes for each die.
Number of outcomes for a single die = 6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Total number of outcomes for two dice = $6 \times 6 = 36$.

We want to find the probability that the sum of the outcomes is 7.
Let (d1, d2) represent the outcome of the first and second die, respectively. The possible pairs (d1, d2) that sum up to 7 are:
(1, 6)
(2, 5)
(3, 4)
(4, 3)
(5, 2)
(6, 1)

There are 6 favorable outcomes.

The probability of an event is calculated as:
Probability = (Number of favorable outcomes) / (Total number of possible outcomes)

Probability of the sum being 7 = 6 / 36.
Simplifying the fraction:
Probability = 1 / 6.

– The total number of outcomes when tossing two standard dice is $6^2 = 36$.
– List all possible pairs of outcomes that result in the desired sum.
– Calculate probability as the ratio of favorable outcomes to total outcomes.
The possible sums when tossing two dice range from 1+1=2 to 6+6=12. The distribution of sums is triangular, with the sum 7 being the most probable. The number of ways to get each sum is:
Sum 2: 1 way (1,1)
Sum 3: 2 ways (1,2), (2,1)
Sum 4: 3 ways (1,3), (2,2), (3,1)
Sum 5: 4 ways (1,4), (2,3), (3,2), (4,1)
Sum 6: 5 ways (1,5), (2,4), (3,3), (4,2), (5,1)
Sum 7: 6 ways (1,6), (2,5), (3,4), (4,3), (5,2), (6,1)
Sum 8: 5 ways (2,6), (3,5), (4,4), (5,3), (6,2)
Sum 9: 4 ways (3,6), (4,5), (5,4), (6,3)
Sum 10: 3 ways (4,6), (5,5), (6,4)
Sum 11: 2 ways (5,6), (6,5)
Sum 12: 1 way (6,6)
Total ways = 1+2+3+4+5+6+5+4+3+2+1 = 36.