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  • Early Years Foundation Stage

You Never Get a Six

Age 7 to 11
Challenge Level Yellow star
  • Problem
  • Getting Started
  • Student Solutions
  • Teachers' Resources

It was raining and Tom, Vincent, Charlie and Edward had been playing a game with dice during break.

"You never get a six when you want one," grumbled Charlie, "I'm sure sixes come less than the other numbers!"

a die

Miss Brown heard him.

"You can all try throwing dice and noting what you get," she said, "It fits in quite well with the work we are going to do next. Throw the dice and make a list of what you get. See if you get less sixes then."

"It's only when it matters if you get a six," grumbled Charlie.

Miss Brown thought for a moment.

"I'll give a Team Point to the one who gets the most sixes," she said, "Mind you, no cheating!"

"Wow!" exclaimed Vincent.

The boys worked in pairs and made lists of their throws. They all threw the dice the same number of times. Here is the list that Tom made for Edward's throws:

tally chart to show throws of die

They decided to make each of the numbers on the dice a different colour when they recorded the work so they could compare them easily.

Here is the graph Edward made from his figures:

bar chart to show throws of die


Here is Charlie's unfinished graph (he hasn't labelled anything yet):


Here is Tom's unfinished graph:

scatter graph to show throws of die


Here is Vincent's unfinished pie-chart:

pie chart to show throws of die


Who won the Team Point for the most sixes?

How many $1$s, $2$s, $3$s, $4$s, $5$s and $6$s were thrown altogether?

What percentage (or: How many out of $100$) of the throws were sixes?


Click here for a poster of this problem.

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The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice.

NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.

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