Balanced nontransitive dice: existence and probability (Q6117429)

Summary: A triple \((A,B,C)\) of dice is called nontransitive if each of \(P(A<B), P(B<C)\), and \(P(C<A)\) is greater than \(\frac12\) and called balanced if \(P(A<B)=P(B<C)=P(C<A)\). From the result of \textit{S. Trybuła} [Zastosow. Mat. 5, 321--332 (1960; Zbl 0094.32503)], it is known that \(P(A<B)\) is less than \(\frac{-1+\sqrt{5}}{2} \), the golden ratio, for every balanced nontransitive triple \((A,B,C)\) of dice. \textit{A. Schaefer} [Balanced non-transitive dice. University of Kansas (Master's Thesis) (2011)] asked whether this upper bound is tight, and \textit{I. Hur} and \textit{Y. Kim} [J. Math. 2021, Article ID 6648248 (2021; \url{doi.org/10.1155/2021/6648248})] conjectured that the upper bound can be reduced to \(\frac12+\frac19\). In this paper, we characterize all possible probabilities \(P(A<B)\) for balanced nontransitive triples \((A,B,C)\) of dice. Precisely, we prove that, for every rational \(\frac12 <q<\frac{-1+\sqrt{5}}{2} \), there exists a balanced nontransitive triple \((A,B,C)\) of dice with \(P(A<B)=q\), which disproves Hur and Kim's conjecture and answers Schaefer's question. We also characterize all triples \((m, n, \ell)\) of positive integers such that there exists a balanced nontransitive triple \((A, B, C)\) of dice, where \(A\), \(B\), and \(C\) are \(m\)-sided, \(n\)-sided, and \(\ell\)-sided dice, respectively. This generalizes Schaefer and Schweig's result [\textit{A. Schaefer} and \textit{J. Schweig}, Coll. Math. J. 48, No. 1, 10--16 (2017; Zbl 1443.97048)] showing the existence of a balanced nontransitive triple of \(n\)-sided dice for every \(n\geqslant 3\).