University:
Colgate University
Course:
MATH 316 | Probability
Academic year:

2021
Views:

496

Pages:

3
Author:

cicwyr4xc

Name: Class: Date: Plinko Probability – Answer Key Start on the INTRO tab. 1. Pretend you are playing Plinko on The Price is Right. How would you choose which bin you think the ball would land in? Answers will vary. Expect that students will have a variety of strategies that they may suggest. 2. Send 10 balls through the Pinko Machine. Draw where they land. Did they all land where you expected? Answers will vary. With only 10 balls, they will see a random distribution 3. Clear the screen and send another 10 through the machine. Again, draw where they land. Was the picture identical to the one above? Why or why not? It is not identical since the balls fall in different patterns 4. Now try 100 balls. Erase and retry several times. What do you notice? Sketch the pattern you see. Students will see a normal distribution 5. Where is a ball more likely to land? Less likely? Balls are more likely to fall in the middle, and less likely the further you are from the middle 6. How might you go about figuring out the probability of landing in a particular bin? Answers will vary – students will likely have a variety of strategies. 7. When I played Plinko, my ball landed in the bin shown below. Draw all of the possible paths to land in that bin. (You can see an example of what I mean by “paths” by clicking on the lab screen, and then on Path.) How many paths did you find? 4 paths 8. Try this again. Look at the next picture and draw the possible paths to get to this bin. How many paths did you find? 1 path 9. Sam just noticed that his worksheet was copied backwards. So instead of drawing lines to bin 0, he drew the paths to bin 5. Will he have to start again? Why or why not? No, there is still only one path. There is symmetry between the two sides 10.For each pin, what is the probability that the ball will move to the right? What is the probability that it will move to the left? There is a 50% chance that it will move either direction 11.Talk to your partner about what you learned. Is it equally possible to land in all bins? If not, how would we determine the probability? Answers may vary. Students should recognize that more paths makes it more likely. 12.Work with your partner to come up with your prediction for the probability that a ball will land in bins 0 through 5. Answers will vary. Students should have reasonable estimates where the chances of the ball landing in the center should be higher than landing on the edges. The total percent should equal 100%. 13.Once you have your prediction, send a continuous number of balls through the Pinko machine. You can click the your predictions? button to see the actual probabilities. How close were Answers will vary based on their prediction.

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