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Roll-a-penny probabilities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

Ann Hirst
Ann Hirst*
Affiliation:
Centre for Mathematics Education, University of Southampton
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Extract

In exploring the probabilities involved in a roll-a-penny game, some properties turned out to be a little more complicated than expected. The main aim here is to find the probability that the player will lose after a certain number of rolls.

Suppose we have a board upon which squares are drawn, and that the side of each square is four times the radius of a penny. (In practice, this means that the squares are of side 4 cm.) The first question is, “What is the probability that the penny lands entirely within a square, assuming that the dividing lines are of negligible thickness?”

Type
Research Article
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 73 , Issue 464 , June 1989 , pp. 101 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 1989

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