Skip to content

More primes with one extra die roll

Question

Player one rolls a fair die 10,00010{,}000 times and player two rolls one 10,00110{,}001 times. What is the probability that player two rolls strictly more prime numbers than player one?

Short answer

12\tfrac12. Compare after 10,00010{,}000 rolls each. By symmetry, two is ahead with the same probability as one, say 1−t2\tfrac{1-t}{2} where tt is the tie probability. Two wins if ahead already, or if tied and the extra roll is prime (probability 12\tfrac12, since 2, 3, 5 are prime): 1−t2+t2=12\tfrac{1-t}{2}+\tfrac t2=\tfrac12.

Adapted from QuantQuestions.io; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

See the hint and the full worked solution in the question bank (free account).

Open the worked solution

Lessons behind this question

Start with a free lesson: Expectation, Variance and Covariance is part of a free topic. Create a free account, no card needed, to read it in full with worked solutions.

Read it free