Likelihood

Can you put these statements in order? They can be dragged up or down.

Most Likely

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You will see a UFO tonight.

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It will snow in London in December.

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If you roll a dice you will get a number greater than three.

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A baby will be born in Bangkok today.

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Wolves will win more games than they draw.

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The Oscar for best actor will be won by someone over 25.

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Tomorrow Facebook will be mentioned on BBC TV.

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If you drop a drawing pin it will land point up.

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A randomly picked playing card will be a picture card.

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If there are 5 people in a bus queue the oldest will be at the back.

Least Likely

Drag statements up or down as necessary until they are in the right order. You can then print this page or copy and paste the statements into your notes. Click the 'Save' button to see how your order compares to other people's order.

 

Printable cards

Here is a an old advert from Bangkok Insurance demonstrating an extremely small probability.

 

Transum.org

This web site contains over a thousand free mathematical activities for teachers and pupils. Click here to go to the main page which links to all of the resources available.

Please contact me if you have any suggestions or questions.

Email address

Mathematicians are not the people who find Maths easy; they are the people who enjoy how mystifying, puzzling and hard it is. Are you a mathematician?

Comment recorded on the 24 May 'Starter of the Day' page by Ruth Seward, Hagley Park Sports College:

"Find the starters wonderful; students enjoy them and often want to use the idea generated by the starter in other parts of the lesson. Keep up the good work"

Comment recorded on the 17 November 'Starter of the Day' page by Amy Thay, Coventry:

"Thank you so much for your wonderful site. I have so much material to use in class and inspire me to try something a little different more often. I am going to show my maths department your website and encourage them to use it too. How lovely that you have compiled such a great resource to help teachers and pupils.
Thanks again"

Each month a newsletter is published containing details of the new additions to the Transum website and a new puzzle of the month.

The newsletter is then duplicated as a podcast which is available on the major delivery networks. You can listen to the podcast while you are commuting, exercising or relaxing.

Transum breaking news is available on Twitter @Transum and if that's not enough there is also a Transum Facebook page.

Featured Activity

Suko Sujiko

Suko Sujiko

Interactive number-based logic puzzles similar to those featuring in daily newspapers designed to develop numeracy skills. These puzzles are drag and drop and can earn you a Transum Trophy.

Numeracy

"Numeracy is a proficiency which is developed mainly in Mathematics but also in other subjects. It is more than an ability to do basic arithmetic. It involves developing confidence and competence with numbers and measures. It requires understanding of the number system, a repertoire of mathematical techniques, and an inclination and ability to solve quantitative or spatial problems in a range of contexts. Numeracy also demands understanding of the ways in which data are gathered by counting and measuring, and presented in graphs, diagrams, charts and tables."

Secondary National Strategy, Mathematics at key stage 3

Go Maths

Learning and understanding Mathematics, at every level, requires learner engagement. Mathematics is not a spectator sport. Sometimes traditional teaching fails to actively involve students. One way to address the problem is through the use of interactive activities and this web site provides many of those. The Go Maths main page links to more activities designed for students in upper Secondary/High school.

Teachers

If you found this activity useful don't forget to record it in your scheme of work or learning management system. The short URL, ready to be copied and pasted, is as follows:

Alternatively, if you use Google Classroom, all you have to do is click on the green icon below in order to add this activity to one of your classes.

It may be worth remembering that if Transum.org should go offline for whatever reason, there are mirror site at Transum.info that contains most of the resources that are available here on Transum.org.

When planning to use technology in your lesson always have a plan B!

Transum,

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

"Teaching suggestion: Allow pupils to work in groups of three or four (randomly chosen with Random Student Generator) with the printable cards. This will encourage plenty of conversation, justification and explanation. After a short plenary teasing out thoughts and ideas pupils can then work on this interactive version individually to see how their sorting order compares with everyone else’s."

Do you have any comments? It is always useful to receive feedback and helps make this free resource even more useful for those learning Mathematics anywhere in the world. Click here to enter your comments.

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