# Dice are now "number cubes" -- more PC bullshit?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [December 7, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460 "2005-12-07T04:03:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/1 "2005-12-07T04:03:53Z")
Today I was helping my 13-year-old neice with her math homework. It was an introduction to probability. The problems were like, “If you toss a pair of number cubes, what is the probability that both cubes will show the same number?” Well, I was pretty sure the “number cubes” in the problems were actually dice, but to be sure I read the whole chapter, and found that a number cube is “a cube with sides numbered 1 through 6”. Not once did the word “dice” appear. Please tell me there’s a legitimate reason for this nomenclature, and not just because we’re so trying to protect children from the evils of gambling that we can’t have a mention of dice in a middle school math textbook!
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/2 "2005-12-07T04:10:35Z")
Someone’s taking “never say die” a little too literally?
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### Author:  [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/3 "2005-12-07T04:14:37Z")
Perhaps they’re trying to avoid upsetting the delicate little dears by making sure not to have to mention the singular form “die”?
(I once had a kiddy game witih instructions that started off “… then the eldest play take up the cup and die …” ) :eek:
Seriously, that _might_ be the reason. Otherwise, I cannot imagine what is going on, as “dice” is a tidier word thatn “number cubes”, surely.
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/4 "2005-12-07T04:16:52Z")
Just wanted to say I love the OP’s handle, and it’s certainly appropriate for this thread.
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### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/5 "2005-12-07T04:20:49Z")
The only thing I can think of is that “dice” are associated with gambling, which is evil!
Won’t someone _please_ think of the…well, you get the idea.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/6 "2005-12-07T04:22:50Z")
[Dice](http://serp.la.asu.edu/clipart_dir/science/_dice.html) are traditionally made with spots or pips to represent the numbers 1 through 6, while a [number cube](http://www.hbschool.com/glossary/math2/define/gr4/equally_likely4.html) is labeled with the actual numerals. The term is simply used to differentiate the one from the other.
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/7 "2005-12-07T04:44:10Z")
So a d6, d20, and so on are actually number cubes?
And it’s probably a good thing I wasn’t helping with the homework. I’d probably read it as “While shooting, what are the odds that you will hit the hardways, snake eyes, or boxcars?”
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/8 "2005-12-07T04:45:56Z")
> [@asterion](#):
>
> So a d6, d20, and so on are actually number cubes?
Well, only the d6. The d4 is a number tetrahedron, the d8 is a number octahedron, the d10 is a number decahedron, the d12 is a number dodecahedron, and the d20 is a number icosahedron.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/9 "2005-12-07T04:55:23Z")
I did a google search on the term “number cubes” and came up with a whole bunhc of online lesson plans and the like that used that term and “dice” interchangably. So whatever the reason for coining the term, it was not to avoid mention of the word “dice.”
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### Author:  [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/10 "2005-12-07T05:13:14Z")
It started with an ignsignificant complaint by one Andrew Dice Clay.
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### Author:  [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/11 "2005-12-07T05:19:47Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> I did a google search on the term “number cubes” and came up with a whole bunhc of online lesson plans and the like that used that term and “dice” interchangably. So whatever the reason for coining the term, it was not to avoid mention of the word “dice.”
I have a friend who teaches some college classes occasionally.
Down here (Bible Belt) dice are horrid things to the True Believers because they’re associated with the super evil sin of gambling.
As such she has to refer to them as “random number generators”.
No, I’m not joking.
-Joe
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/12 "2005-12-07T05:35:23Z")
I thought “PC bullshit” implied this cause was being advanced by foolish liberals. But if they’re “True Believers” aren’t they more likely to be foolish conservatives?
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/13 "2005-12-07T06:23:33Z")
> [@Celyn](#):
>
> Perhaps they’re trying to avoid upsetting the delicate little dears by making sure not to have to mention the singular form “die”?
> (I once had a kiddy game witih instructions that started off “… then the eldest play take up the cup and die …” ) :eek:
I remember having a Parcheesi set that had those very instructions. There was a plastic little colored cup to shake the dice in. I remember my Grandpa making jokes about the rules. “Now I’m afraid to play!” 😛
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### Author:  [@Dr.Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Love)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/14 "2005-12-07T06:32:28Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#):
>
> [Dice](http://serp.la.asu.edu/clipart_dir/science/_dice.html) are traditionally made with spots or pips to represent the numbers 1 through 6, while a [number cube](http://www.hbschool.com/glossary/math2/define/gr4/equally_likely4.html) is labeled with the actual numerals. The term is simply used to differentiate the one from the other.
Also, the number cube is not correctly labeled to be a die. One would need to either switch the positions of the 2 and 3, or of the 4 and 5. Please tell me I’m not the only one who noticed that
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### Author:  [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/15 "2005-12-07T06:55:29Z")
> [@pkbites](#):
>
> I remember having a Parcheesi set that had those very instructions. There was a plastic little colored cup to shake the dice in. I remember my Grandpa making jokes about the rules. “Now I’m afraid to play!” 😛
I didn’t _have_a grandpa! I _was_ the oldest player. ☹ I still suffer the fear and torment.
As for the Bible Belt thing, do people _really_ try to avoid any use or mention of dice for fear of the Evil Habits? Surely any amount of children’s board games involve dice, without being linked to gambling in any real way.
As for “random number generator”, blech! :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Exploding\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exploding_Kitchen)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/16 "2005-12-07T07:37:59Z")
When I was in high school, they were referred to as random number generators.
Why?
District policy banned dice on campus, and forgot to leave an exception for instruction. So instead of having dice, they had random number generators which switched the positions of some of the numbers on the cube.
I’d figure it’s not so much PC/Fundie stuff as it is getting around the regulations that most schools/districts have about having gambling paraphenalia on school grounds.
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### Author:  [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/17 "2005-12-07T11:53:53Z")
> [@Merijeek](#):
>
> As such she has to refer to them as “random number generators”.
Random eh? That’s just a theory, how could something so complicated and useful be random? Those numbers were intelligently designed.
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### Author:  [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/18 "2005-12-07T12:29:04Z")
Lice are now “scalp bunnies”. And they have “play dates” in your hair.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/19 "2005-12-07T12:42:23Z")
It’s got something to do with gambling. I have $20 that says so.
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### Author:  [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2005, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dice-are-now-number-cubes-more-pc-bullshit/334460/20 "2005-12-07T12:42:44Z")
Off to MPSIMS.
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