The internet has the answer [spoiler] but just for entertainment here you go.

SCIENCE said:

The internet has the answer [spoiler] but just for entertainment here you go.

This from the chat thread, or what?

Chat thread in 2007, so over on the old forum I’m assuming.

sibeen said:

Chat thread in 2007, so over on the old forum I’m assuming.

Well as I said in the other thread, my time machine’s not working at the moment.

SCIENCE said:

The internet has the answer [spoiler] but just for entertainment here you go.

Doesn’t ring bells. But let’s start with a coin.
Probability, Length
1/2, 2
1/4, 3
1/8, 4
So for coins it has a finite answer:
2/2^1 + 3/2^2 + 4/2^3 + …

For dice it would also have a finite answer, not too difficult to calculate.

mollwollfumble said:

not too difficult to calculate.

You’re right, there, explained it that time too.

SCIENCE said:

mollwollfumble said:

not too difficult to calculate.

You’re right, there, explained it that time too.

I worked that out whilst walking the dog this afternoon.

Only 14 years late.

Well those were the days, and it was a good question, we use it on our students now too.

Thanks for that.

Looks like I was still using 123 as my spreadsheet of choice back then :)

but does Newton 123 Bach have quite the same ring to it

SCIENCE said:

but does Newton 123 Bach have quite the same ring to it

:)

Not sure what happened between 2006 and 2008 to make me finally realise that 123 was really a dead duck.

That was fascintinatingering..

I forgot The Rev used to wear that red shirt.

Seeing as it’s a holiday, VBA code to count the number of rolls required to get all 6 numbers:

Function CountRolls(Iterations As Long)
Dim CountA() As Long, nRolls As Long, totRolls As Long, i As Long, j As Long, nMatch As Long, Maxrolls As Long, MinRolls As Long, Roll As Long
Dim ResA(1 To 3) As Double
Maxrolls = 6
MinRolls = 1000
For i = 1 To Iterations
ReDim CountA(1 To 6)
nMatch = 0
nRolls = 0
Do While nMatch < 6
nRolls = nRolls + 1
Roll = WorksheetFunction.RandBetween(1, 6)
CountA(Roll) = CountA(Roll) + 1
If CountA(Roll) = 1 Then nMatch = nMatch + 1
Loop
totRolls = totRolls + nRolls
If nRolls > Maxrolls Then Maxrolls = nRolls
If nRolls < MinRolls Then MinRolls = nRolls
Next i
ResA(1) = totRolls / Iterations
ResA(2) = Maxrolls
ResA(3) = MinRolls
CountRolls = ResA
End Function

Typical results with Iterations = 100,000:
14.71777, 85, 6
14.70904, 84, 6

Also:
The average number of attempts required to get all 6 numbers in 6 rolls is:
(6^6)/6! = 64.8

since we’re on a roll (and yes we’ll throw our short piece of code in as well) and since that other US Election Tread inspired us to look more closely

we may have been incorrect in claiming that All Was Lost In The Exodus and so we ask

is this The Original ¿ because we will happily load up the rest of it for you all if indeed

SCIENCE said:

since we’re on a roll (and yes we’ll throw our short piece of code in as well) and since that other US Election Tread inspired us to look more closely

we may have been incorrect in claiming that All Was Lost In The Exodus and so we ask

is this The Original ¿ because we will happily load up the rest of it for you all if indeed

That was before my time, but others may recall the historic moment.

SCIENCE said:

yes we’ll throw our short piece of code in as well