Probability tells us how likely something is to happen. It's always a number between 0 (impossible) and 1 (certain). Play with the wheel, bag, dice and coin below to see it in action!
Each face has a 1/6 chance (17%)
Heads or Tails — each has a 1/2 chance (50%)
With one die, each number has an equal 1/6 chance. But with two dice, some totals (like 7) are much more likely than others (like 2 or 12), because there are more ways to make them!
Chances for every possible total (2 – 12):
P(event) = Favorable Outcomes ÷ Total Possible Outcomes
One die: P(rolling a 4) = 1 favorable outcome ÷ 6 total outcomes = 1/6
Two dice: each die has 6 outcomes, so together there are 6 × 6 = 36 possible combinations (this is called the multiplication rule for independent events).
To roll a total of 7, there are 6 combinations that work: (1,6) (2,5) (3,4) (4,3) (5,2) (6,1). So P(sum = 7) = 6 ÷ 36 = 1/6 — the most likely total when rolling two dice!
To roll a total of 2, only (1,1) works, so P(sum = 2) = 1 ÷ 36 — much rarer.