2. Increasing Sample Size
Rolling dice to investigate the effects of sample size.

3. Lucky and unlucky numbers
4 – considered unlucky in China and Japan because it sounds like “death”
7 – thought by many in western countries to be lucky
8 – a lucky number in China as it sounds like “fortune”
9 – is also unlucky in Japan – again links to death – but lucky in China where it was the number of the Emperor
13 – unlucky in many western countries

4. Do you agree with what these
Roll a dice 30 times
Yeah, but look how easy it was to roll 1 that time.
Wow!
That 6 was hard to roll!
Do you agree with what these
students are saying?

5. Do you agree with what these
Roll a dice 30 times
Yeah, and it shows that it is easy to roll 1.
Wow! This proves that 6 is always hard to roll!
Do you agree with what these
students are saying?

6. If I roll a dice 30 times… is it possible that I won’t get any 6s?
What is the probability of events that are possible and likely?
is it possible that I won’t get any 6s?
is it likely that I won’t get any 6s?
is it possible that I will get 20 of one number?
is it likely that I will get 20 of one number?

7. If I roll a dice 30 times, write down something that will definitely NOT happen.
What is the probability of an event that cannot happen?
I won’t roll a “7” or any number bigger than 6
I won’t roll a zero or any number smaller than 1
I won’t roll a fraction
I won’t roll any number 31 times
Anything else?

8. The importance of sample size
Does more data mean better data?
I was bitten by a dog when I was 3.
All dogs are dangerous.
Do you agree with what these students are saying?
Can we make decisions based on one experience?

9. Investigating with dice
First roll a dice 30 times yourself and record how frequently each number comes up.
Later, use the computer to show the results that are like those you would get by throwing a dice 300 times or 3000 times.
Look at the patterns in the data.

10. Here are the results that a student got when he rolled the dice 30 times, 300 times and 3000 times.
Are your results similar to or different from his?

11. Separately open the file
“2b reSolve Yr6 SP Probability Spreadsheet xlsx”
This excel spreadsheet is a separate file within the Probability package. It can also be downloaded from the relevant page of the website under ‘Related Documents’.