Education Technology


NUMB3RS - Season 3 - "Burn Rate" - Random Thoughts

Activity Overview

In "Burn Rate," Charlie helps the FBI investigate a series of mail bombings with seemingly unrelated targets. The FBI develops a likely suspect when Charlie analyzes the patterns involved. However, he later realizes that the data is too perfect. Lines from the suspect's house to each data point create equal angles' result he thinks is too exact to be a coincidence. He calls it "a perfect storm of data, an improbable event."
In this activity, students will investigate random events.

Before the Activity

Download the attached PDF and look over the Teacher Page.

During the Activity

Discuss the materials from the Student Page with your class.

After the Activity

Encourage students to explore web sites and questions from the Extensions Page.