Divided into four equal parts: a blue section, labeled “B,” a green section, labeled “G,” a red section, labeled “R,” and a yellow section labeled "Y." The pointer is in the part labeled “Y.”
B
Divided into three unequal parts. The first part is blue and labeled "B." It is approximately one third of the spinner. The next part is green and labeled “G.” It is approximately one fourth of the spinner. The last part is yellow and is labeled “Y.” It is approximately between four tenths and five tenths of the spinner. The pointer is in the part labeled "Y."
C
Divided into four unequal parts. The first part is red and labeled "R." It is approximately one eighth of the spinner. The next part is blue and labeled "B." It is approximately one twelfth of the spinner. The third part is green and labeled “G.” It is approximately one fourth of the spinner. The last part is yellow and labeled “Y.” It is approximately between five-tenths and six-tenths of the spinner. The pointer is in the part labeled "Y."
D
Divided into four unequal parts. The first part is blue and labeled "B." It is approximately one fourth of the spinner. The next part is green and labeled "G." It is approximately one sixth of the spinner. The next part is yellow and labeled "Y." It is approximately one third of the spinner. The last part is red and labeled "R." It is approximately one fourth of the spinner. The pointer is in the part labeled "Y."
6.2
Activity
Diego’s Walk
Your teacher will give your group the supplies for one of the three different simulations. Follow these instructions to simulate 15 days of Diego’s walk. The first 3 days have been done for you.
Simulate one day:
If your group gets a bag of papers, reach into the bag, and select one paper without looking inside.
If your group gets a spinner, spin the spinner, and see where it stops.
If your group gets two number cubes, roll both cubes, and add the numbers that land face up. A sum of 2–8 means Diego has to wait.
Record in the table whether or not Diego has to wait more than 1 minute.
Calculate the total number of days and the cumulative fraction of days that Diego has had to wait so far.
On the graph, plot the number of days and the fraction that Diego has had to wait. Connect each point by a line.
If your group has the bag of papers, put the paper back into the bag, and shake the bag to mix up the papers.
Pass the supplies to the next person in the group and they will repeat the steps to simulate the next day.
A graph of two connected line segments on a coordinate grid with the origin marked “O.” The horizontal axis is labeled “day”, with the numbers 0 through 24, in increments of 2, indicated. There are vertical grid lines midway between. The vertical axis is labeled “fraction of days Diego had to wait” with the numbers 0 point 1 through 1, in increments of 0 point 1, indicated. The first line segment begins at the point with coordinates 1 comma 0 and moves upward and to the right, ending at the point with coordinates 2 comma 0 point 5. The second line segment begins where the first line ends, and moves slightly upward and to the right, ending at the point with coordinates 3 comma 0 point 6 7.
day
Does Diego have
to wait more
than 1 minute?
total number
of days Diego
has had to wait
fraction
of days Diego
has had to wait
1
no
0
0.00
2
yes
1
0.50
3
yes
2
0.67
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Based on the data you have collected, do you think the fraction of days Diego has had to wait after the 16th day will be closer to 0.9 or 0.7? Explain or show your reasoning.
Continue the simulation for 10 more days. Record your results in this table and on the graph from earlier.
day
Does Diego have
to wait more
than 1 minute?
total number
of days Diego
has had to wait
fraction
of days Diego
has had to wait
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
What do you notice about the graph?
Based on the graph, estimate the probability that Diego will have to wait more than 1 minute to cross the crosswalk.
6.3
Activity
Designing Experiments
For each situation, describe a chance experiment that would fairly represent it.
Six people are going out to lunch together. One of them will be selected at random to choose which restaurant to go to. Who gets to choose?
After a robot stands up, it is equally likely to step forward with its left foot or its right foot. Which foot will it use for its first step?
In a computer game, there are 3 tunnels. Each time the level loads, the computer randomly selects 1 of the tunnels to lead to the castle. Which tunnel is it?
Your school is taking 4 buses of students on a field trip. Will you be assigned to the same bus that your math teacher is riding on?
Student Lesson Summary
Sometimes it is easier to estimate a probability by doing a simulation. A simulation is an experiment that approximates a situation in the real world. Simulations are useful when it is hard or time-consuming to gather enough information to estimate the probability of some event.
For example, imagine Andre has to transfer from one bus to another on the way to his music lesson. Most of the time he makes the transfer just fine, but sometimes the first bus is late to the transfer point, and he misses the second bus. We could set up a simulation with slips of paper in a bag. For each bus ride over the last month, we write either "miss" or "made it" on a slip of paper depending on whether he missed the transfer or not. We select slips at random from the bag. After many trials, we calculate the fraction of the times that he misses the second bus to estimate the probability that he will miss the bus on a given day.
Glossary
simulation
A simulation is an experiment that is used to estimate the probability of a real-world event.
Suppose the weather forecast says there is a 25% chance of rain. This situation can be simulated with a spinner that has four equal sections. If the spinner stops on red, it represents rain. If the spinner stops on any other color, it represents no rain.
A circular spinner divided into 4 equal parts. The top left section is red and labeled “R.” The top right section is blue and labeled “B.” The bottom right section is green and labeled “G.” The bottom left section is yellow and labeled “Y.” The spinner dial points to the section labeled "G."
Have a correction or suggestion?
Tell us about a typo, a broken link, or an improvement you’d like to see. We read every submission but can’t reply.