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<     Episode 2153: A Die of Very Low Probability     >

Episode 2153: A Die of Very Low Probability

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There are lots of different dice available these days, from mass produced ones to custom sculpted ones, to printable 3D models. Many people make their own dice. So there can be a bit of a concern about whether a die is fair or not - if it actually has equal probability of landing on any of the sides.

There's a fairly simple statistical test you can do to check this, called a chi-squared test. More specifically, Pearson's chi-squared test is the suitable version for testing dice (and the linked Wikipedia page contains an example of how to use it for testing a 6-sided die). And this step-by-step run through shows you how to do the test by hand.

Now you can go nuts and check all your dice to see which ones might be biased, and quarantine them for special use.

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Wait! Did Rey add her reflex modifier to the roll yet? She's Pete's character so that might be enough to shoot first.

I wonder if Pete has considered the fact that he might have a somewhat weighted die and consider it cheating to have that on hand. On one hand, that feels like something Pete would be against, similar to the distrust of random number generators. On the other, most of the time rolling low would be unhelpful, so it's a waste of time to carry it around. Plus, it'd be difficult to actually tell if it's actually a low-roller or just one that's getting the low numbers rolled out of it ahead of time, and it wouldn't technically be manipulating the die.

Pete must bring so many things with him to game night if he's got a dice quarantine as well. I hope we'll see another super-die at some point; the previous ones were amazing to picture. Or maybe it'll be Corey that makes something crazy and gets Uncle Pete to roll instead.

Transcript

Rey: Time for my quarantined low-roller.
GM: Your dice superstition is very odd for someone so rational.
Rey: It ain’t superstition if it works.
GM: It’s either confirmation bias, or you shoot Finn in the face.
Rey: Either way, I win.
[SFX]: roll...
GM: A 2. You don’t react fast enough to shoot them before they freeze.
Zeppo: Rey! It’s us!
Rey: Dad!
Zeppo: I stole another identity! My name’s Zeppo now.
Rey: Of course it is. Your disguise is so good, you’re lucky I recognised your old identity.


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Published: Tuesday, 17 May, 2022; 02:11:06 PDT.
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