The Birthday Paradox

The exercise detailed in this resource poses a paradox regarding birthdays. The question raised: how large does a group have to be in order to have a 50% or better probability that two or more people in the group share the same birthday? Intuitions about probability are challenged as students use their calculators to simulate random values to represent the birthdays and reach an answer.

Resource ID#: 64763 Type: Teaching Idea

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Open Resource Page

Direct Link: http://users.rowan.edu/~schultzl/BirthdayParadox_worksheet.pdf

General Information

Subject(s): Mathematics, English Language Arts

Grade Level(s): 9, 10

Intended Audience: Educators

Suggested Technology: Graphing Calculators

Instructional Time: 1 Hour(s)

Keywords: probability, random integer generator, Monte Carlo simulation, birthday, paradox

Instructional Component Type(s): Teaching Idea, Worksheet,

Instructional Design Framework(s): Direct Instruction

Resource Collection: General Collection

Aligned Standards

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