UNIT 16: PROBABILITY

PA G E 1 5 2
GAME : SKUNK
 SKUNK

• Everyone makes a copy of the Skunk score sheet on their

paper. Each column is for recording the totals from a round of
the game.
• There will be 5 rounds.
• Everyone stands up.
• The teacher will roll the dice and everyone adds the two
numbers to get the first total.
• If a a one comes up on either dice, the total is zero and the
round is over.
• Students must choose when to stand and when to sit. If
you are standing when a one appears you will lose
everything for that round.
• The next round will begin once this happens.
UNIT 16: PROBABILITY
PA G E 1 5 2
 PROBABILITY

• Probability measures how likely it is that

something will happen
• We will learn how to calculate
probabilities in simple situations
Exercise 16.1
Questions 1, 2 and 3
16.2 EQUALLY LIKELY
OUTCOMES
PA G E 1 5 4
WHAT EVENTS HAVE OUTCOMES THAT
ARE EQUALLY LIKELY?
• Flipping a coin
• Rolling a dice
• Picking a card from a pack

• Flipping a coin – heads or tails is equally likely

• Rolling a dice –1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are all equally likely events
 EXERCISE 16.2
•Questions 1, 3, 4, 6, 8
 UNIT 16.3 MUTUALLY
EXCLUSIVE OUTCOMES
PA G E 1 5 6
 MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE OUTCOMES

• A bag contains sweets of different colours.

• One sweet is taken from the bag. This is an event.

• Here are two possible outcomes:

- A red sweet is taken out

- A green sweet is taken out

- These are mutually exclusive outcomes. They cannot

happen at the same time
 MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE OUTCOMES

• Here are two more possible outcomes:

- A yellow sweet is taken

- The sweet tastes of lemons

- These are not mutually exclusive

outcomes. The sweet could be
yellow and taste of lemons
Exercise 16.3
Questions 2-10
UNIT 16.4 ESTIMATING
PROBABILITIES
PA G E 1 5 8
 ESTIMATING PROBABILITIES

What are the possible outcomes when you

drop a thumb tack?
(And no Roy it cannot land on its side!!!)
- Point up
- Point down

Are these two outcomes equally likely?

No. Therefore we can do an experiment
to find out the probabilities.
 EXPERIMENTAL
PROBABILITIES
• The table shows the
outcomes when 80
thumb tacks were
dropped
• What is the estimated probability of ‘point up’?

• What is the estimated probability of ‘point down’?

• These are experimental probabilities

• Theoretical probabilities are found by using equally likely
outcomes
Exercise 16.4
Questions 2, 4 ,5, 8, 9
END OF UNIT 16:
PROBABILITY