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ERIC Number: EJ1093232
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 7
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0045-0685
EISSN: N/A
Gardner's Two Children Problems and Variations: Puzzles with Conditional Probability and Sample Spaces
Taylor, Wendy; Stacey, Kaye
Australian Mathematics Teacher, v70 n2 p13-19 2014
This article presents "The Two Children Problem," published by Martin Gardner, who wrote a famous and widely-read math puzzle column in the magazine "Scientific American," and a problem presented by puzzler Gary Foshee. This paper explains the paradox of Problems 2 and 3 and many other variations of the theme. Then the authors look at the solutions for problems 2 and 3 and their generalizations and compare the results. Finally, the authors use these problems to draw attention to the importance of both conditional probability and sample spaces for teaching probability at all levels. Paradoxes are a wonderful way to get teachers, students, and their parents thinking hard about mathematics and solving problems and variations. Foshee's puzzle is a new contribution which can be used in schools.
Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT). GPO Box 1729, Adelaide 5001, South Australia. Tel: +61-8-8363-0288; Fax: +61-8-8362-9288; e-mail: office@aamt.edu.au; Web site: http://www.aamt.edu.au
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A