Tag: probability
Can I get your order right?
Updated! You can order a ton of combos at Chipotle. They advertise that there are 65,000 ways to order their meals. Do you think that is correct?
The Perfect Bracket
What are your chances of picking every game? How does the change from 64 to 65 to now, 68 teams in the field complicate things? How many brackets would you need to fill out to pick every possibility? How many reams of paper would you need to print all of those brackets? Let’s do the math! Also, check out the video below that explores your odds of picking all games in the tournament perfectly.
Extra point or 2-point conversion – Updated
In 2015 the NFL changed the extra point kick distance to 33 yards and now teams have a tough decision to make, go for one or two points? The one point extra point is no longer a given with…
What are the odds that Justify can win the Triple Crown?
Justify has won the Triple Crown. He’s the 13th horse to ever win all three races … Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes. Amazing! How do you calculate compound probability? Skip the betting odds and deal only with the…
3 winners on the Price is Right – what are the chances?
Act One: Show this clip of the recent Price is Right program. What questions do your students have? We were wondering what the chances are of 3 contestants in a row, each spinning $1.00, and earning $1,000 each. Act Two:…
Pascal’s Triangle coloring and Probability
Working with Pascal’s Triangle offers some interesting and varied mathematics. We love to color and the end results are prettier than most math homeworks. Here is the second of 3 activities using Pascal’s coloring. Pascal’s Triangle and Probability – This activity…
Coloring with Pascal’s Triangle … Binomial expansion
Working with Pascal’s Triangle offers some interesting and varied mathematics. We love to color and the end result is pretty! Here is the first of 3 activities using Pascal’s coloring. This Binomial expansion activity could be used alone or coupled…
Games with dice
Time to let students become naturally curious about probability. In this activity students work in teams to record the frequency of rolled dice combinations. They observe the difference between experimental and theoretical outcomes and consider how sample size affects how the…
Can you predict the Bears’ 2015 schedule and win big?
This year, the Chicago Bears have created a schedule-predicting contest with the prize being two tickets to all 16 home and away games. Plus air fare and lodging for the road games Plus $500 per road game in walking-around money…
4th down
It’s 4th down. Should you go for it? Punt? Kick a field goal? Instead of using your gut, use research, data and math to make the right call … The graph below gives the recommended option for 4th down situations for…