AP STATISTICS | Simulation: Examples

   

Steps to Simulation:
1. State the problem or describe the random phenomenon
2. State the assumptions
3. Assign digits to represent outcomes
4. Simulate many repetitions (trials)
5. State your conclusions

Simulation Problems
1. Use your calculator and the simulation method to determine the chances of at least 2 students
with the same birthday in a class of 23 unrelated students. Determine the chances of at least 2
people having the same birthday in a room of 41 people. What assumptions are you using in
your simulations?
2. A recent opinion poll showed that about 73% of married women agree that their husbands do at
least their fair share of household chores. Suppose that this is exactly true. Choosing a married
woman at random then has a 73% chance of getting one who agrees that her husband does his
share. Use your calculator to simulate choosing many women independently:
a) Simulate drawing 20 women, then 80 women, then 320 women. What proportion agree in
each case? We expect (but because of chance of variation we can’t be sure) that the
proportion will be closer to 0.73 when more trials are examined.
b) Simulate drawing 20 women 10 times and record the percents in each trial who agree. Then
simulate drawing 320 women 10 times and again record the ten percents. Which set of 10
results is less variable? Write a statement about the relationship between the number of trials
and the variability in the results.