Because MATH, that's why.

[theweaselking]

You roll two fair 6-sided dice.

One of them is a 6.

What are the odds that the other is also a six?

[Poll #1770498]

Comments

[chaosrah.livejournal.com]

Oh. Alright. So one is a 6, but you don't know if the first one you rolled was the 6, or if it was the second one you rolled that was a 6.. so you still have to multiply 1/6 by 1/6. Chance of first one being a 6 is 1/6, then the second one must be a 6. Chance of second one being a 6 is 1/6, so the first must have been a 6. Blah blah. 1/36..

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Nope.

1/36 is the probability of *both* being 6.

You want the probability of *one or the other or both* being 6.

(Which is the same as 1 - (neither is 6))

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

But just one of them being a six does not satisfy the requirements -- you basically get to 1/11, not 11/36.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

You're right, that was a stupid thing to say. It's one of the steps towards the solution, but it's missing the final step.