Dice - Base 3 Dice

Tarquin’s Base 3 educational dice come as a pack of 10 base 3 dice in a resealable bag. They are hands-on maths learning resources that teachers can use from number bases through to fractals and logic.

Base 3 dice numbered 0, 1 and 2

• 10 white dice numbered 0, 1 and 2, in a resealable bag
• Use to demonstrate base 3
• Helpful for conveying Cantor sets and Sierpinski triangles
• Also open up transistor logic demonstrations
• Good for any three-option game too

Normal dice run from 1 to 6, but these faces carry only the three numerals of the base 3 number system. Hands-on, the idea clicks when pupils roll four at once and read the result as a base 3 number.

Counting in base 3 becomes physical: each place value fills at 2 and then rolls over. Base 3 addition with carrying follows from the same rolls.

Using the dice for fractals, logic and probability

The digits 0, 1 and 2 underpin the Cantor set: removing every point with a 1 in its base 3 expansion leaves the set. Sierpinski triangles follow a similar three-way rule, so rolls can choose which corner to move towards.

For transistor logic, the three faces can stand for three states in a circuit, which makes them useful when teaching ternary ideas. These maths concepts usually stay on the board, but with a few rolls pupils can generate the patterns themselves.

Each roll has three equally likely outcomes, so probability work starts from a clean one-in-three chance. Any dice game or maths game with three choices also works, from a quick class vote to a strategy game.

What the pack of dice gives your classroom

In the classroom, this works well when pupils work in pairs: the 10 pieces cover five pairs, or one group sharing. The resealable bag keeps the set together between maths activities.

These learning resources make maths learning in base 3 something pupils roll, record and check for themselves. Try having each pair roll three dice and convert the result to base 10.

Multibuy offer: Buy any of this item and all subsequent single dice purchased are 10% off. Automatically calculates in basket.