terningekast

Terningskast is the act or result of throwing dice to generate a random outcome in games and probability exercises. In Danish, terning means die or dice, and kast means throw, so the term covers both the action of rolling and the outcomes produced by a roll. Dice are used widely in board games, casino games, role-playing games, and educational demonstrations of probability.

Most common is a single six-sided die (d6). Each face numbered 1 through 6 has an equal probability of 1/6 on a fair die. A terningskast with one die determines movement, success, or other in-game effects according to the game rules.

When two dice are rolled, the possible sums range from 2 to 12. The distribution is not uniform: 2 and 12 occur once, 3 and 11 twice, 4 and 10 three times, 5 and 9 four times, 6 and 8 five times, and 7 six times out of 36 possibilities. The expected value of the sum is 7. Many games base outcomes on these sums rather than individual dice.

Beyond standard dice, many games use polyhedral dice (d4, d8, d10, d12, d20). Dice can be fair or biased (loaded), reflected in different probabilities for outcomes. Rolling methods include tossing on a table, using a cup or shaker, or a dice tower to avoid bias from throwing technique.

Historically, dice have ancient origins and were used for gaming and divination. In modern contexts, terningskast is a common term in Danish-speaking communities for describing random outcomes in gaming and probability tasks, as well as for teaching basic concepts in statistics.