Challenge: Open-ended Dice on the HP-41

[Geir Isene]

This challenge is derived from creating applications for the Amar role-playing game. It is a challenge involving the extension of the normal dice with 6 sides - a so called open-ended dice throw.

Definition: Take a dice with 6 sides. Now we would like to extend the range of the numbers beyond the intrinsic 1 to 6. A way to accomplish that is to make the 1 and the 6 special cases. Whenever you throw a 6, you can extend the range by making another throw. A throw of 4 to 6 (50%) will add 1 to the original 6. Throw again and a result of 4 to 6 will again add 1 to the number (making it 8) etc. Every throw of 4 to 6 will add one until you get a 1, 2 or 3, then it stops. Conversely, throwing a 1 on the first throw is a special case. Throw again, and a result of 1 to 3 will subtract 1 from the original number. Keep throwing 1, 2 or 3 to subtract one... until you throw a 4, 5 or 6 - then it stops. Now we add a dimension; Whenever you throw two 6's consecutively it is marked as a "critical". A throw of two consecutive 1's is a "fumble". All this is called an "open-ended" dice throw. A normal dice roll is termed a D6, an open-ended roll is O6.

Challenge: Create a program for the HP-41 that does open-ended dice rolls. It should show whether the roll also includes a "critical"/"fumble". Do this without using any storage registers - i.e. only using the stack (and the Alpha register if you wish).

I will publish my solution for dissection in a few days :-)

[hugh steers]

i was interested in how far out from [1,6] the "openness" might get. So i hacked up a quick program in Lua to print out a histogram.
here's what i get after a million goes:

the first column is the value and the second the percentage of trials hitting that value.

1       8.2905

2       16.6888

3       16.6197

4       16.6964

5       16.7057

6       8.3628

7       4.1587

8       2.0964

9       1.0276

10      0.5105

11      0.264

12      0.1336

13      0.0652

14      0.0334

15      0.0141

16      0.0092

17      0.0041

18      0.0024

19      0.0011

20      0.0003

21      0.0002

22      0.0001

23      0.0002

-1      2.0857

0       4.1388

-2      1.0439

-3      0.5196

-4      0.2631

-5      0.1331

-6      0.0665

-7      0.0324

-8      0.0163

-9      0.0072

-10     0.0041

-11     0.0015

-12     0.0013

-13     0.0008

-14     0.0005

-15     0.0001

-16     0.0001

total   100

critical =      2.7771

fumble =        2.7606

So we have a [2,4] plateau (1/6 as expected), then 50% falloff each side. However, it's interesting to note that the "critical" and "fumble" percentages are almost 1 in 36.

This indicates that you don't really get much difference tracking consecutive 1's and 6's after the first go. Consequently, i modified my simulator to count a "critical" as 2 6's at the start and a "fumble" as 2 1's. here's what i get:

1       8.2841

2       16.659

3       16.6423

4       16.7312

5       16.7244

6       8.2914

7       4.2017

8       2.0684

9       1.0386

10      0.5212

11      0.2641

12      0.1315

13      0.0618

14      0.0322

15      0.0185

16      0.0073

17      0.0041

18      0.002

19      0.0012

20      0.0006

22      0.0001

23      0.0001

24      0.0001

-7      0.0298

-8      0.0176

-9      0.0072

-10     0.0033

-11     0.0024

-12     0.0006

-13     0.0006

-14     0.0003

-1      2.0799

0       4.1518

-2      1.0266

-3      0.5313

-4      0.2638

-5      0.1286

-6      0.0701

-15     0.0002

total   100

critical =      2.7716

fumble =        2.7501

Similar story. So i would say, for the purposes of generating values for Amar, you could simplify your algorithm on the 41c and not track consecutive values. which should shorten the program.

here are my two versions. o6() is the "real" algorithm and "os6plain" is my hacked one.

function d6()

   return math.floor(math.random()*6+1)

end

function o6()

   local v = d6()

   local d

   local crit = false

   local fumb = false

   local c = true

   if v == 6 then

      while true do

         d = d6()

         if d >= 4 then

            v = v + 1

            if d == 6 then

               crit = c

               c = true

            else

               c = false

            end

         else break

         end

      end

   elseif v == 1 then

      while true do

         d = d6()

         if d < 4 then

            v = v - 1

            if d == 1 then

               fumb = c

               c = true

            else

               c = false

            end

         else break

         end

      end

   end

   return v,crit,fumb

end

function o6plain()

   local v = d6()

   local crit = false

   local fumb = false

   if v == 6 then

      crit = d6() == 6

      while d6() >= 4 do v = v + 1 end

   elseif v == 1 then

      fumb = d6() == 1

      while d6() < 4 do v = v - 1 end

   end

   return v,crit,fumb

end

[hugh steers]

Uh-oh! i made a mistake tracking the consecutive values. The difference is actually more - about 3% instead of 2.7

should be,

function o6()

   local v = d6()

   local d

   local crit = false

   local fumb = false

   local c = true

   if v == 6 then

      while true do

         d = d6()

         if d >= 4 then

            v = v + 1

            if d == 6 then

               if c then crit = true end

               c = true

            else

               c = false

            end

         else break

         end

      end

   elseif v == 1 then

      while true do

         d = d6()

         if d < 4 then

            v = v - 1

            if d == 1 then

               if c then fumb = true end

               c = true

            else

               c = false

            end

         else break

         end

      end

   end

   return v,crit,fumb

end

so, it depends on whether you really want to track consecutive values or not.