Education Technology

QLD (Nspire): Probable Factors

by Texas Instruments

Objectives

Students set up a simulation to help evaluate the reasonableness of pending theoretical calculations and solutions. Students draw from a mixture of mathematical concepts and procedures from previous units to help explore the problem. Students use a mixture of data, statistics, graphs, algebra and logic to support their findings. The nature of the task means that all student work will be unique!

Vocabulary

  • Quadratic Equation
  • Binomial
  • Coefficient
  • Probability
  • Experiment

About the Lesson

Students create a simulation using TI-Nspire that produces four dice rolls simultaneously. The outcome from each is used to form a single quadratic equation. TI-Nspire is then used to determine if the quadratic factorises, a simulation that is repeated by students to obtain an approximate answer to the questions "What is the probability that a randomly generated quadratic will factorise?" Students are then guided through a series of scaffolded questions to determine the theoretical probability.