Probability Simulations

Which is the best way to simulate choosing one student out of 12 to be the class president?

• roll a die and flip a coin
• roll a die
• spin a spinner with 4 sections
• flip a coin

The questions on a multiple choice test each have 6 answer choices. Which model can be used to simulate randomly selecting the correct answer on a 20 question multiple choice test?

• rolling a six-sided number cube 6 times
• rolling a six-sided number cube 20 times
• spinning a spinner with 4 equal sized sections 4 times
• choosing 1 marble in a bag of 20 different colored marbles

Which is the best way to represent answering 25 multiple-choice questions with 4 choices for each answer?

• spin a spinner with four sections 25 times
• roll a die 25 times
• flip a coin 25 times
• roll a die 4 times

A certain brand of TV has a 50% chance of being defective. Which model could be used to determine the probability that when two TVs are chosen, they will both be defective?

• spin a spinner with 4 equal sections
• roll a die twice
• flip a coin twice
• flip a coin, then roll a die

Layla has 2 pairs of shoes and 6 pairs of socks. If each pair of socks and each pair of shoes is equally like to be chosen, which is the best simulation to show the probability of choosing any given combination?

• roll a die and flip a coin
• roll a die two times
• flip a coin 6 times
• flip a coin 2 times

Samuel has 5 different colors of pens and 2 different colors of paper. Which model could be used to show how many different choices he has?

• spin a spinner with 5 sections, then flip a coin
• roll a die 5 times
• flip a coin 5 times
• roll a die, then flip a coin 5 times

An ice cream parlor offers 15 different flavors of ice cream. Which model could be used to show how many different choices there are?

• spin a spinner with 5 sections
• flip a coin
• spin a spinner with 15 sections
• roll a die and flip a coin

 A teacher wants to randomly choose 4 students to answer a series of questions. If there are 20 students in the classroom, describe a model that the teacher could use to simulate choosing these 4 students. 

• rolling a number cube 20 times
• spinning a spinner with 20 sections 4 times
• flipping a coin 20 times
• rolling a number cube and flipping a coin 20 times

 A game requires drawing tiles with letters A through E for each of 8 slots to determine the winning code. Describe a model that could be used to simulate the selection of the number

• a number cube and a coin are flipped 8 times
• a spinner has 8 different sections and is spun 5 times
• a number cube is rolled 5 times
• a spinner has 5 different sections and is spun 8 times

A cereal company is placing one of 6 different tickets into its boxes of cereal. If each ticket is equally likely to appear in a box of cereal, which model could be used to simulate the tickets you would find in 50 boxes of cereal?

• a coin that is flipped 50 times
• a spinner that has 4 sections that is spun 50 times
• a number cube that is rolled 50 times
• a coin is flipped and a number cube is rolled 50 times