Showing posts with label math. Show all posts
Showing posts with label math. Show all posts

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Who Knows and Who's Guessing?

Suppose we take 128 people from all over the world and we give them a quiz with 7 true-false questions.

If all 128 people answer all 7 questions correctly, we would find it hard to imagine that all, or even most, of them guessed their way to the correct answers. It would be more likely that all of them found little difficulty in answering the questions correctly.

Similarly, if all 128 people answer all 7 questions incorrectly, we must suppose that none of them knew any of the answers.

Things get trickier if the answers come out in a bell curve, that is: 2 people answered either all 7 questions correctly or none correctly, 14 answered either 6 or 1 questions correctly, 42 answered 5 or 2 correctly, and 70 answered either 4 or 3 correctly. We could draw 1 of 2 conclusions from this: either the sample of people we chose represents a perfect sampling of knowledge vs ignorance, such that they were equally likely as not to know the answers, or that all of them chose answers at random and the result was a matter of pure luck.

There are some odd things to note about this. The first is how the results of some participants affect the evaluation of how well other, seemingly unrelated participants performed. If you got 6 answers correct under the bell curve scenario, it is impossible to know whether you know anything. You might have guessed on all of them. However, if it turns out that that guy from Nepal, who we originally thought answered only 1 question correctly actually answered all 7 correctly, the likelihood that you answered correctly based on actual knowledge rather than by random guessing goes up.

Then there is the problem of just which questions were the ones that were not answered correctly. Take question 1. If everyone got it right, the odds are that you knew the answer. If half got it right and half got it wrong, the odds are that you and everyone guessed. If you actually knew the answer, the distribution would, mathematically, have been slightly skewed more toward people getting the answer correct (by half an answer). The more people who answer the question correctly, the more likely it is that those people who got it correctly didn't do so by accident. However, if you're the only one who got it wrong, we have no idea if you didn't know the answer or if you guessed.

One of the most important things to note is that a bell distribution or its equivalent implies that some people will answer the answers correctly by accident. This is why there is no proof that a financial adviser, economist, and so on, who guesses right several times in a row about the economy or what have you has any idea about what they're doing ... if the other people who guessed had some right and some wrong. Or that a study or series of studies showing the benefit or ill-effect of something means anything, if you don't know out of how many unreported tests the results were taken (see here).

Monday, September 24, 2012

Jenga Math, Robotics, and the List of Editions

I was not the first to describe Jenga as a NIM like game. Fellow Israeli Uri Zwick also describes Jenga this way in his paper analyzing the mathematics of the game [PDF] and how to win it.

Jason Ziglar analyzes the mechanics of the game [PDF], namely each of the various possible ways of extracting the blocks.

A bunch of guys built a mobile robot that plays the game, described in a research paper.

Tsuneo Yoshikawa and others also tackle the robotic challenge with a robot that has multi-articulated fingers [PDF].

Meanwhile, Matthew South write an 82 page Master's thesis [PDF] on how to simulate the physics of Jenga real-time on the computer.

Official editions of Jenga? 44 so far (not counting Jenga-branded other games and items).

  1. Standard
  2. Blast
  3. Book Lovers
  4. Boston Red Sox
  5. Chicago Bears
  6. Chicago Cubs
  7. Chicago White Sox
  8. Coca-Cola
  9. Dallas Cowboys
  10. Detroit Tigers
  11. Donkey Kong
  12. Extreme
  13. Girl Talk
  14. Halloween
  15. Harley-Davidson
  16. Hello Kitty
  17. Holiday
  18. Jacks
  19. John Deere
  20. Kit Kat
  21. Las Vegas Casino
  22. Love
  23. Mark II
  24. New England Patriots
  25. New York Yankees
  26. Nightmare Before Christmas, The
  27. Oakland Riaders
  28. Ohio State University
  29. Onyx
  30. Party
  31. Philadelphia Eagles
  32. Philadelphia Phillies
  33. Pittsburgh Steelers
  34. Scrooge McDuck
  35. Spider Man
  36. Tarzan
  37. Throw 'n Go
  38. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
  39. Truth or Dare
  40. Ultimate
  41. University of Michigan
  42. University of Texas
  43. Winnie-the-Pooh
  44. XXL

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Fun Board Games to Enhance Students' Learning Experiences

The following is a guest post from Brian Jenkins

Playing board games is a great way for students to learn because children retain more information when they're having fun. Games get children motivated. Math and spelling won't induce boredom when they're integrated into fun games. By playing board games, children enhance their logic and reasoning skills, learn to solve problems, and gain skills in strategic thinking.

Kids also enhance their social skills while playing board games. They learn about following rules, taking turns, fairness, and how to graciously win and loose. Of course, gracious losing might kids some extra time to get the hang of!

Let's take a look at some of the best board games for young students:

Dino Math Tracks Place Value Game

This game has received the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal which is given to toys that enrich the lives of children. Players race around the game board with a pack of prehistoric pals. The game emphasizes the mathematical concept of place value and is a fun way for young students to learn addition and subtraction. The game includes multiple levels of play for children of different ages and abilities.

UPWORDS

UPWORDS is similar to Scrabble and exercises the same skills. However, it is easier to make words and score points because kids can stack onto existing words. Therefore, it's a better choice than Scrabble for younger kids. Also, the scoring system is simplified.

Primary Pups

This fun game integrates 1st through 3rd grade curricula. Players answer multiple choice questions from the following subject areas: Math, science, history, grammar, health, and geography. Students advance their puppies along the game board by correctly answering questions.

Flip 4

Flip 4 is designed for ages 8 to 12. It's a strategy game that teaches math and logical thinking and planning. Kids role the dice and then add, subtract, or multiply to land on board squares. Students try to strategically flip their opponents out of the game. The game received an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award, a Dr. Toy Top 10 Game Award, and an iParenting Media Award.

Equate

This game is a mathematical version of Scrabble. Kids use tiles to make horizontal or vertical math equations. In addition to teaching kids how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, the game requires kids to think strategically and creatively. Equate received a Parent's Choice Recommended Award, a Games Magazine Best Game award, and a Dr. Toy 100 Best Children's product award.

Word Pirates

It takes spelling and strategy skills to win this game. Kids try to be the fist player to reach the treasure by building a path of words and bridges. The game is designed for ages six and up and received a Creative Child Magazine Preferred Choice Award.

Have Kids Create Their Own Board Games

Besides playing with fun, educational games made by adults, let students have the opportunity to make their own games. Give them criteria to meet and allow them to use their creativity to develop a game. This is a great challenge for students!

Board games are a great way to break up the monotony of everyday classroom instruction. Fun and education is always a great combination!

Brian Jenkins writes feature articles, including pieces that offer career information for elementary school teachers, about a variety of different education and career topics for BrainTrack.com.

The opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the blog owner's.