Education Technology


Greedy Pig

Activity Overview

A very popular probability game, but it is so much more than an end of lesson filler. In this activity students start with the traditional approach of playing and exploring, however they are soon challenged to explore strategies and determine the expected value. In the extension students are challenged to consider a responsive strategy.

Objectives

Students gain an understanding of independent events, expected value and are introduced to the notion of sampling distributions. The notion of gaming theory is also introduced as students are encouraged to consider responsive strategies to their current score.

Vocabulary

  • Simulation
  • Independent Events
  • Expected Value
  • Sampling distribution (Extension)

About the Lesson

Students use simulations to explore the initial game then apply strategies, collect data and compute expected values. The Greedy Pig game contains a wealth of mathematics well beyond the notion of independent events.