Good advertisers can make mathematics seem irrelevant. Teach your classes to use math to see through these tactics and make good decisions. The posed task has pupils analyze sweepstakes statistics to determine and compare the cost of participating to the average amount people who play actually win.

Concepts

mean, chance

Show More Show Less

Additional Tags

math

Show More Show Less

Instructional Ideas

• Hold a debate after your classes complete the problem; assign different groups to argue for and against returning the entry
• Have individuals bring in different game entries with chances of winning statistics listed

Classroom Considerations

• Learners should be familiar with calculating an average or mean

Pros

• Uses a relevant task to practice the mathematics
• Includes an answer key with detailed and alternative solutions

Cons

• None

Common Core

HSS-CP.A.5