Carnival Games Presented By Pre-Calculus Class

From Clayton Payne, Pre-Calculus Teacher:
 
On Friday, March 8, the Pre-Calculus class presented their annual Carnival Games during lunchtime, where Grauer students and teachers could play some fun games of chance for a quarter. In Pre-Calculus, students are tasked with demonstrating an understanding of the notion of discrete random variables by using them to solve for the probabilities of outcomes expressed as multivariable functions. An application of this understanding is in calculating the mathematical expectation of a combination of events, important work in both the insurance industry as well as in games of chance. Each year as a project, students design, build, and test their own carnival games. Using the average probability of success from their testing phase, students then calculate the mathematical expectation - the average they expect to make per player - of their game. During lunch, students run their games and collect data. Afterwards, they are asked to compare and contrast their results with their predictions, reflecting on any similarities and/or discrepancies. It's quite the exciting way to end the Probability and Statistics unit!