Probability

Introduction

A simple way to think about probability is to determine what the odds for or against a particular outcome are. This thinking makes it possible to determine the amount of times an event can occur.

Information

For example, if you toss a quarter in the air, there is a 50% chance

that it will land on heads and a 50% chance it will land on tails

because there are two sides to the quarter. But what if you tossed

the quarter fifty times, is the outcome still the same? This is what

you will explore in this dropin activity.

The same can be said for rolling dice. There is a one in five chance of rolling a four with a single die. How do those odds change with multiple rolls and two dice. This is what we’ll look for in this lesson.

Activity

Go to the National Center for Education Statistics and click on the

What Are the Chances? button at the bottom of the screen.

Put the number 5 in the Number of Rolls box then click Roll the Dice.

look at the information on the graph and compare their figures to

the results you recorded in your notebook. NOTE – the data may not

be the exact same, but the percentages should be similar.

Now, take your two dice and roll them 10 times.

Go to the Graphing Page and graph your results using a bar graph.

Title Your Graph “Rolling the Dice”

Have the X Axis represent the combinations you rolled and the Y Axis represent the number of rolls in increments of two.

Plot your data in the bars accordingly and check your work by going back to the What Are the Chances? Page and comparing your graph to the one on the web page.

Note any discrepancies in the data for discussion in class.