Lottery Strategy: An activity for new undergraduate students to introduce and reinforce introductory statistical concepts

Salim Neil Khan

Abstract


Most university mathematics courses involve the students studying a statistics module in their first year. However, depending on which modules they took at A-level, they arrive at university with varying degrees of interest and ability in statistics. This article presents a classroom activity that introduces and reinforces introductory probability concepts to help prepare and engage the students for the statistics that they will encounter on their course. In the activity, the students consider and contrast two different strategies for selecting numbers for a lottery, in order to conclude which is best under which circumstances. It comprises a mixture of experimentation using a lottery machine, analysis using probability theory, and simulation using computers.


Keywords


Practical Activity, Lottery, Probability, Statistics, Simulation.

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.21100/msor.v15i1.347

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