AO1: Compare and describe the variation between theoretical and experimental distributions in situations that involve elements of chance.

This unit aims to introduce students to concepts that are important in probability.The emphasis should be on working slowly taking the time to let the students grasp the ideas that underlie the activities presented. All the ideas are important as a base for future learning in this area of mathematics.

These exercises, activities and games are designed for students to use independently or in small groups to practise number properties. Some involve investigation (see copymaster of investigation write up) and may become longer and more involved tasks with subsequent recording/reporting. Typically an exercise is a 10 to 15 minute activity.

Many games of chance and activities in maths text books involve rolling two dice and combining the scores, usually by addition. Students often find the probabilities of such events difficult to calculate as they are confused between events (for example a score of 4) and outcomes (for example 3 and 1, 2 and 2, 1 and 3). This unit makes use of a variety of activities where the number of outcomes in the sample space is clearly different from the number of events.