List

Being curious - statistics

Two's company
problem

Two's company

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Seven balls are shaken. You win if the two blue balls end up touching. What is the probability of winning?
Cosy corner
problem

Cosy corner

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Six balls are shaken. You win if at least one red ball ends in a corner. What is the probability of winning?
Litov's Mean Value Theorem
problem

Litov's mean value theorem

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Start with two numbers and generate a sequence where the next number is the mean of the last two numbers...
Which spinners?
problem

Which spinners?

Age
14 to 18
Challenge level
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Can you work out which spinners were used to generate the frequency charts?
Searching for mean(ing)
problem

Searching for mean(ing)

Age
11 to 16
Challenge level
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If you have a large supply of 3kg and 8kg weights, how many of each would you need for the average (mean) of the weights to be 6kg?
Last one standing
problem

Last one standing

Age
14 to 16
Challenge level
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Imagine a room full of people who keep flipping coins until they get a tail. Will anyone get six heads in a row?
Same Number!
problem

Same number!

Age
14 to 16
Challenge level
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If everyone in your class picked a number from 1 to 225, do you think any two people would pick the same number?
Mathsland National Lottery
problem

Mathsland national lottery

Age
14 to 16
Challenge level
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Can you work out the probability of winning the Mathsland National Lottery?
Who's the best?
problem

Who's the best?

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Which countries have the most naturally athletic populations?
Non-Transitive Dice
problem

Non-transitive dice

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Alison and Charlie are playing a game. Charlie wants to go first so Alison lets him. Was that such a good idea?
Odds and Evens made fair
problem

Odds and evens made fair

Age
14 to 16
Challenge level
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In this follow-up to the problem Odds and Evens, we invite you to analyse a probability situation in order to find the general solution for a fair game.
Estimating time
problem

Estimating time

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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How well can you estimate 10 seconds? Investigate with our timing tool.
Wipeout
problem

Wipeout

Age
11 to 16
Challenge level
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Can you do a little mathematical detective work to figure out which number has been wiped out?
Unequal Averages
problem

Unequal averages

Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
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Play around with sets of five numbers and see what you can discover about different types of average...