How many people do you need in a room before two likely share the same birthday? Scholars consider this puzzle by analyzing a set of data. They ponder how to divide the data and determine the proper size of a group for this event to likely happen based on experimental probability.

Concepts

word problems, problem solving strategies, logical reasoning, mathematical reasoning, data analysis, data sets

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Additional Tags

math

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Instructional Ideas

• Introduce the Julian dating system prior to starting the lesson
• Repeat the activity with another group such as students in the class, students in the grade level, etc.

Classroom Considerations

• Relies on prior knowledge of numerical and categorical data, comparing and ordering numbers, understanding probability, manipulating a spreadsheet, and using data to compute experimental probabilities

Pros

• Offers many extension ideas
• Provides both formative and summative assessments with answers

Cons

• None

Common Core

6.SP.B.5.a 6.SP.B.5.b 7.SP.A.1 7.SP.C.7.a 7.SP.C.7.b