A TRICK WITH DICE.
(
Problems Concerning Games.)
Here is a neat little trick with three dice. I ask you to throw the dice
without my seeing them. Then I tell you to multiply the points of the
first die by 2 and add 5; then multiply the result by 5 and add the
points of the second die; then multiply the result by 10 and add the
points of the third die. You then give me the total, and I can at once
tell you the points thrown with the three dice. How do I do it? As an
example, if you threw 1, 3, and 6, as in the illustration, the result
you would give me would be 386, from which I could at once say what you
had thrown.
Answer:
All you have to do is to deduct 250 from the result given, and the three
figures in the answer will be the three points thrown with the dice.
Thus, in the throw we gave, the number given would be 386; and when we
deduct 250 we get 136, from which we know that the throws were 1, 3, and
6.
The process merely consists in giving 100a + 10b + c + 250, where a, b,
and c represent the three throws. The result is obvious.
