Probability you can touch – for young explorers
Come along into the forest! Momo the raccoon shows you why some things are certain, some maybe, and some almost never happen.
For example:
That day follows night – you know that for certain.
But whether it rains during tomorrow's recess and you have to stay inside? You won't know until the day comes!
When we don't know for sure what will happen, that's called chance. And you can even get a feel for how likely something is. Let's try it out!
Tap a sentence first, then tap the basket it belongs in.
Flip it a lot! You'll see: over many flips, heads and tails come up about equally often – for a perfect coin, each side has a 1-in-2 chance.
Did you know?
No real coin is ever perfectly balanced. Tiny differences happen during minting, so one side can be a little heavier than the other. You won't notice it in 10 or 20 flips. But if you flipped a coin 1,000 times, one side might land up just a little more often than the other. The more you flip, the more clearly you see how a coin really behaves!
Roll it a lot and watch the bars. Eventually all six numbers should end up about equally tall – even though any single roll is always chance.
Did you know?
Even a real die is never built perfectly. The corners and the carved-out dots make it slightly unequal in weight. You won't notice after a few rolls. But if you rolled 1,000 times, one number might come up a little more often than the others. That's exactly why scientists count huge numbers of trials – only then do these tiny tendencies actually show up.
Some things sit right at the top of the ladder – they almost always happen. Others sit at the bottom – they almost never happen.
Which bar is the tallest? Right – walking! A chart helps us see lots of numbers at a glance – just like with your own class.
Enter your name:
is now a junior probability pro!