|
|
|
August 2, 2000
Today class started with Jon and the students talking about rational
numbers and pi. Jon the briefly went over how today's class was going to
run. After Jon finished, Kirstin taught class. Kirstin then handed out
circles to all of the students. Each student was assigned a number of
pieces to cut the circle into. Each piece had to be equal. This
activity was easier for some because they only had to cut the circle into
four pieces
whereas others had to cut their circle into sixteen pieces. After
everyone had their pieces cut, each person had to tape the triangles side
to side to form a polygon. After using Excel to see how accurate the
estimation of pi was (using the polygons), Jon began to talk about the
Monte Carlo method which is used to
come up with a value for pi. Students then used Microsoft Excel to
generate random numbers based on the information given to the program to
come up with another estimation of pi.
After break Jon allowed the students to play the Racing Game With One Die in which the students compare the probability of different outcomes. The game is played by rolling one die to determine which player moves forward in the race. Each car is assigned a set of numbers and each time one of the car's numbers is rolled, the car moves forward. The first car to reach the finish line is declared the winner. The students' objective is to experiment with changing the parameters and then compare the resulting probability that a particular car will win.
Last Update: |
