MATH 15 - LAB 2 (Excel 2010)
THE PROBABILITY OF ROLLING DICE AND REVIEW OF GRAPHS
PART 1
CONSIDER THE EXPERIMENT OF ROLLING A PAIR OF DICE AND RECORDING THE SUM.
WHAT TO TURN IN TO TURNITIN: IN A MICROSOFT WORD DOCUMENT, ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
1. Let x = the sum of a pair of dice being rolled.
Construct a table that displays the probability distribution of X. Round probabilities to four decimal places.
x
P(x)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
2. Use Excel to simulate rolling a pair of fair dice 100 times and record the sum. Then, create a table of the relative
frequencies. Round relative frequencies to four decimal places.
3. Use Excel to simulate rolling a pair of fair dice 5000 times and record the sum. Then, create a table of the relative
frequencies. Round relative frequencies to four decimal places.
Note:
After this step, you should have three probability tables, one from 1., 2., and 3.
4. Which simulation better corresponds to the true probabilities? Be specific in your analysis. Explain your reasoning.
5. Should you have expected to see the results that you did indeed see? Why should you have expected such results?
Note: Be sure to include with your lab the Excel printout of the summary “bin” tables of your simulations. Copy
and paste them into the Word document. Do NOT turn in the pages and pages of data that support those Excel
tables.
PART 2
Find a graph that is used in an article from a newspaper, journal, magazine, or some other official publication on the
internet. Be sure it is a type of graph that we have studied in class. If you can copy the image and paste into the Word
document, then include a copy of the graph with this lab. If the article is short, include the article as well as the graph.
1. From where did you get the graph? What was the name of the article from which the graph was taken and from
what source was the article taken? Include the URL where you found the article. Be specific and include a date of
the publication, if relevant.
2. What type of graph is displayed?
3. In one paragraph, clearly explain what the graph is telling you in the context of the article.
4. Do you think the graph was effective in conveying the information? Explain.
A. HOW TO SIMULATE ROLLING A PAIR OF DICE AND RECORDING THE SUM USING EXCEL:
1. Open Microsoft Excel 2010.
2. Input the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in the first six cells of column 1.
3. Input the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 in column 2.
4. Simulate the roll of the first die: In the Data menu, click on Data Analysis. If your copy of Excel does not have the
data analysis package displayed, use the posted instructions to activate the package. Data Analysis is already installed in
the Excel 2010, you just have to turn it on.
 Scroll down and select Sampling. Click OK.
 Fill out the window using the following values then click OK:
Replace the 50 with
100. This number
means you are
simulating rolling the
pair of dice 100 times.
Column D will then be populated with simulated roll of the first die.
5. Repeat step 4 above, however, Change the Output Range to E1.
6. Click in cell F1 and type the following: “=SUM(D1:E1)” then press ENTER.
7. Click in cell F1 again and select Home -> COPY.
8. Put the mouse arrow over cell F2 and drag down so that column F is highlighted all the way down to row 100.
9. Once all 100 cells are selected in column F, select Home -> PASTE.
10. Column F is now populated with the simulated sum of the 100 rolls of the two dice.
B. HOW TO COUNT UP (AND SUMMARIZE IN A TABLE) THE SUMS GENERATED BY THE SIMULATION USING EXCEL:
1. In the Data menu, click on Data Analysis
 Scroll down and select Histogram. click OK.
 Fill out the window with the following values and boxes checked and click OK:
Change to F100
This is the location of the
cell where the summary
table will be pasted.



You will then see a table summarizing the frequency of each possible sum (everyone’s values will be different).
You should ignore the row in the table labeled “More”.
IMPORTANT: convert these frequencies to relative frequencies by dividing each frequency by the total number
of simulated rolls.
Create a table in your Word document of the relative frequencies by filling in the blanks of a table like the one
below before continuing! Use these values to compare to the true probabilities.
Number of Simulated Rolls = ________ (fill in the blank with either 100 or 5000 depending on the simulation)
x
Relative
Frequency
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
C. REPEAT STEPS A AND B ABOVE, HOWEVER, INCREASE THE NUMBER OF SIMULATED ROLLS FROM 100 TO 5000.
You will need to make the following changes to the process above:
Step A4:
Step B1:
Change to
5000.
Change to
F5000.