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AMC 12 Mock Exam 2 Problem 13

Problem 13 of 25

Maya rolls three fair standard six-sided dice. What is the probability that one of the three numbers she rolls is equal to the sum of the other two?

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Solution

If one number equals the sum of the other two, it is strictly larger than each of them, so it is the unique largest number; call it mm, where 2≤m≤62\le m\le6. For each mm, the largest die can be any of the 33 dice, and the other two dice show an ordered pair of positive integers with sum mm, of which there are m−1m-1. Thus the number of favorable outcomes is 3(1+2+3+4+5)=45,3\left(1+2+3+4+5\right)=45, and the probability is 45216=524\frac{45}{216}=\boxed{\tfrac{5}{24}}.

Tagged: dice probability, organized counting