McGraw-Hill Mathematics: Grade 6, Chapter 14

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Heads or Tails

Morgan: A Genetics Tutorial
http://morgan.rutgers.edu/MorganWebFrames/htmldocs/contents.html

Have some fun tossing coins as you experiment with probability.

• Click Level 3: Probability. Read the information on the on the left-hand part of the screen and click virtual coin in the text.
  
• Try tossing the coin a few times. Notice how the numbers in the boxes change with each toss. Click Clear. Make predictions for the number of heads and the number of tails you will get if you toss the coin 20 times. Record your predictions in question 1 below.
  
• Click Go! to toss the coin 20 times at once. Record the results in question 1.
  
• Make predictions for the number of heads and the number of tails you will get if you toss the coin 200 times in question 2 below. Click Go! 9 more times for a total of 200 tosses and record the results in question 2.
  
• Click button 4 in the lower left menu bar. Read the information on the on the left-hand part of the screen. Then click virtual coins in the text.
  
• Use the virtual coins to answer questions 3 and 4.
  

1. Toss one coin 20 times.

   Predicted Results:

   Number of heads________	Percent of heads________
   Number of tails________	Percent of tails________

   Actual Results:

   Number of heads________	Percent of heads________
   Number of tails________	Percent of tails________

   
   

2. Toss one coin 200 times.

   Predicted Results:

   Number of heads________	Percent of heads________
   Number of tails________	Percent of tails________

   
   Actual Results:

   Number of heads________	Percent of heads________
   Number of tails________	Percent of tails________

   
   

3. Toss two coins 40 times.

   Predicted Results:

   Number of heads-heads________	Percent of heads-heads________
   Number of heads-tails________	Percent of heads-tails________
   Number of tails-heads________	Percent of tails-heads________
   Number of tails-tails________	Percent of tails-tails________

   
   Actual Results:

   Number of heads-heads________	Percent of heads-heads________
   Number of heads-tails________	Percent of heads-tails________
   Number of tails-heads________	Percent of tails-heads________
   Number of tails-tails________	Percent of tails-tails________

   
   

4. Toss two coins 200 times.

   Predicted Results:

   Number of heads-heads________	Percent of heads-heads________
   Number of heads-tails________	Percent of heads-tails________
   Number of tails-heads________	Percent of tails-heads________
   Number of tails-tails________	Percent of tails-tails________

   
   Actual Results:

   Number of heads-heads________	Percent of heads-heads________
   Number of heads-tails________	Percent of heads-tails________
   Number of tails-heads________	Percent of tails-heads________
   Number of tails-tails________	Percent of tails-tails________

   
   

5. What seems to happen to the actual results as compared to the predicted results
   when you greatly increase the number of coin tosses? Why do you think this happens?

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6. Design a probability experiment. Your experiment can use coins, a spinner, a number
   cube, or some other object. Then perform the experiment and record the results.

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Math at Home

Today I explored a Web site that gave me the chance to toss coins and perform some probability
experiments. When I performed my own probability experiment, the results showed that

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You can find out more about this topic by asking your teacher or parents to show you other Web sites.