Math: Dice and Probability
Probability Games Walter J Mahoney MTH 157 1/20/2013 Andrea Hayes
Probability is a fascinating math concept. It can be applied in many aspects of our students’ daily lives. As the world of technology continues to grow, teaching of many math concepts can be done in the classroom and reinforced by math learning websites. The coin flip and roll dice games that we looked at are a nice tool to show our students the concept of probability in visual form. The coin flip game showed the probability of two results either heads or tails. It is less complex because it only has two possible results, the probability of a heads or tails coming up when flipped is 50% or one out of two chance. In the game, you control the number of flips of the coin and the results are noted and percentage is giving to you. In my results of 20 single flips, the results were 50% heads and 50% tails. But when I used the auto flip button for another 20,000 flips, the results were 50.11% heads and 49.89% tails. There was a historical button which shows historical data with results of 50% heads and 50% tails. It is a nice visual tool to explain the results of the probability concept. The dice roll game showed the probability with many more results. It is more complex. It can give the results for one die, which are six possible results, two dice, which are 11 possible results, and three dice, which are 16 possible results. When you are rolling one die, you have a 16.67% or a 1 in 6 chance for each number to come out. When you add die to the dice roll game the results of your rolls are weighted according to the number of possible results that the dice could give. For example in order to roll a two with two dice, there is a 2.78% or 1 in 36
Probability is a fascinating math concept. It can be applied in many aspects of our students’ daily lives. As the world of technology continues to grow, teaching of many math concepts can be done in the classroom and reinforced by math learning websites. The coin flip and roll dice games that we looked at are a nice tool to show our students the concept of probability in visual form. The coin flip game showed the probability of two results either heads or tails. It is less complex because it only has two possible results, the probability of a heads or tails coming up when flipped is 50% or one out of two chance. In the game, you control the number of flips of the coin and the results are noted and percentage is giving to you. In my results of 20 single flips, the results were 50% heads and 50% tails. But when I used the auto flip button for another 20,000 flips, the results were 50.11% heads and 49.89% tails. There was a historical button which shows historical data with results of 50% heads and 50% tails. It is a nice visual tool to explain the results of the probability concept. The dice roll game showed the probability with many more results. It is more complex. It can give the results for one die, which are six possible results, two dice, which are 11 possible results, and three dice, which are 16 possible results. When you are rolling one die, you have a 16.67% or a 1 in 6 chance for each number to come out. When you add die to the dice roll game the results of your rolls are weighted according to the number of possible results that the dice could give. For example in order to roll a two with two dice, there is a 2.78% or 1 in 36
References: Billstein, R., Libeskind, S., & Lott, J.W. (2010). A Problem solving approach to mathematics For elementary school teachers (10th Ed) Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley Betweenwaters.com (2011) Retrieved from http://www.betweenwaters.com