Two and One

'Two and One' printed from https://nrich.maths.org/

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We had some good solutions to this problem. Rukmini from Dowanhill Primary wrote:

I first got some red and blue wooden pieces. Next, I sorted out these ones.

The combinations were:

Blue Red Blue (Terry wins)

Red Blue Blue (Ali wins)

Blue Blue Red (Ali wins)

No, this is not a fair game because Terry only has one winning set and Ali has two possible winning sets. It's more likely that Ali will win.

You're right, Rukmini, well done. Nicholas who goes to Lochinver House School and Courtney from Holystone Primary expressed their solution in a slightly different, but equally as good, way. Courtney said:

It is not fair because Terry has a one in three chance but Ali has a $2$ in $3$ chance.