Experiments to determine how likely an outcome is | Maths

Starter quiz

__________ is a single predefined test.
- An event
- An outcome
- A sample space
- A trial ✓
The likelihood of an outcome can be described as __________ if its likelihood of happening is the same as its likelihood of not happening.
- certain
- even chance ✓
- impossible
- likely
- unlikely
Which statement describes the meaning of 'unlikely'?
- An outcome has less chance of happening than not happening. ✓
- An outcome has the same chance of happening as not happening.
- An outcome has a greater chance of happening than not happening.
Which term belongs at point E on the scale of likelihoods?
- certain ✓
- even chance
- impossible
- likely
- unlikely
A bag contains counters that are each labelled with a letter from A to C. One counter is chosen at random from the bag. Which term describes the likelihood of choosing the letter 'B'?
- impossible
- unlikely ✓
- even chance
- likely
- certain
A regular six-sided dice is rolled. Match the events with the term that describes their likelihood of happening.
- rolling a factor of 6
  
  ⇔
  
  likely ✓
- rolling an integer
  
  ⇔
  
  certain ✓
- rolling a multiple of 6
  
  ⇔
  
  unlikely ✓
- rolling a negative number
  
  ⇔
  
  impossible ✓
- rolling a prime number
  
  ⇔
  
  even chance ✓

Exit quiz

__________ is a repetition of a trial multiple times in order to observe how often each outcome occurs.
- An event
- An experiment ✓
- A sample space
The __________ an experiment contains, the more confident you can be about any conclusions made based on its results.
- fewer trials
- more possible outcomes
- more trials ✓
During an experiment, a toy brick is dropped 100 times and its landing position is noted. Based on the results in the bar chart, which way is the brick least likely to land when it is dropped?
- A - with connectors up ✓
- B - with connectors down
- C - on one of its long faces
- D - on one of its short faces
Sofia is planning experiment involving dropping slices of buttered toast to see which way around it is most likely to land. Which number of trials would produce the most reliable conclusion?
- 1
- 2
- 10
- 50
- 100 ✓
Jacob conducts an experiment where he flips a coin 10 times to check whether landing 'heads' is equally likely as landing 'tails'. How could this experiment be improved?
- use a fewer number of trials
- use a greater number of trials ✓
- asking someone else to flip the coin
- the experiment can not be improved
Jacob flips a coin 10 times. It lands 'heads' 3 times and 'tails' 7 times. Which statement is true?
- The coin is definitely biased because it landed on tails more than heads.
- The coin is definitely not biased because results can differ due to chance.
- You cannot reliably conclude whether the coin is biased based on so few trials. ✓

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Lesson Details

Key learning points

An experiment can be designed to determine how likely an outcome is.
An experiment can be carried out and the outcomes recorded.
The outcomes can be considered and the likelihood of each outcome stated.

Common misconception

A small number of trials in an experiment is enough to provide conclusive findings.

Even in situations where we know that the different outcomes of a trial are equally likely happen, one outcome may happen more often than the others. E.g. when we flip a coin 10 times, we don't always get the exact same number of heads and tails.

Keywords

Experiment - An experiment is a repetition of a trial multiple times in order to observe how often each outcome occurs.