Solved – What are the variance and standard deviation for the bin counts for n rolls on a standard six-sided die

descriptive statisticsdicediscrete datastandard deviation

I'm having trouble imagining what variance and deviation mean with a series of die rolls. That is, a fair die will fall with a flat distribution on all its values 1-6 in 6 bins (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) over time (as n goes towards infinity).

Firstly, does the concept of variance really make sense on such a question? [Edit: only if I provide some data on bin outcomes. Say n=36, and the die lands as follows: 1 (6 times), 2 (5x), 3 (5x), 4 (7x), 5 (7x), 6 (6x).]

The average outcome will be n/6 over time for each of the six bins [Edit: My prior writeup was confusing, as I had said the mean was 3.5 — but this mean face-value is irrelevant to the question.]

Is this question even valid? It seems a perfectly flat distribution (as n-> infinity), with no other hidden variables, has no variance (or shouldn't have any), but then what should one make of the results when n is finite?

Best Answer

While @dsaxton's answer is correct, I think it makes it more difficult for beginners in statistics to grasp the concept of variance, so I'll offer another answer that helps you get a better "feel" for the what the variance is actually "doing." An equivalent expression for the variance in this case is:

$Var(X)$ =$ \sum_{i=1}^6(X_i-\bar{X})^2\over{6}$.

Now, you know the mean, $\bar{X}=3.5$, so you simply need to take the die's $i$th's face value $i=1, 2, . . . , 6$, $X_i$ and subtract it from the mean, square it, and divide it by 6. In effect this gives you an average of how far away each die value is from its mean. So $Var(X)$ is given by:

${(1-3.5)^2+(2-3.5)^2+(3-3.5)^2+(4-3.5)^2+(5-3.5)^2+(6-3.5)^2}\over{6}$= $17.5\over{6}$=$105/36$, the same answer @dsaxton provided.

We square the values of $X_i-\bar{X}$ because if we don't, then the sum of the values will add to zero and the negative numbers will cancel out the positive numbers.