Probability and Statistics Through Game Shows

Matt Carlton & Mary Mortlock

Cal Poly State University - San Luis Obispo

Handouts

Each of these 6 activities has two sets of handouts: class-ready activity worksheets, and solutions to the numerical questions. All handouts are in MSWord (.doc) format, so that teachers may modify the worhsheets for their own use.

Websites

http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v9n3/biesterfeld.html

Dr. Amy Biesterfeld, a former graduate student colleague of Matt’s, wrote an article on The Price Is Right for the Journal of Statistical Education. Amy’s article includes Plinko, Master Key, and The Range Game. Some suggested activities in the article are suitable for high school, but some are also quite advanced.

http://gscentral.net/pricing.htm

Brad Francini has compiled a complete directory of games on The Price Is Right. His website, part of Game Show Central.net, has game descriptions, countless photographs from the show, and odds of winning some games. We’d like to thank Brad for allowing us to use his descriptions.

http://www.stat.sc.edu/~west/javahtml/LetsMakeaDeal.html

As the name suggests, students can simulate the famous Monty Hall problem with this Java script. You can also access this website from http://stat201.isfun.net/ by Prof. R. Webster West, which boasts scores of applets and other simulation tools.

http://www.cut-the-knot.org/hall.shtml

Cut-the-Knot.org provides another simulation to the Monty Hall problem. Only explore this website when you have a few hours free! Cut-the-Knot.org has hundreds of web-based resources for mathematics teachers, including a massive section on probability.