Activity Description Experiment with a simulation to get an approximation of Pi by dropping a needle on a lined sheet of paper.

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Buffon

Place in mathematics curriculum:

This activity can be used to:

• introduce the notions of chance and probability
• show the difference between experimental and theoretical probability
• motivate the connection between probability and geometry

This activity allows the user to run a simulation of dropping a needle on a lined sheet of paper and determining the probability of the needle crossing one of the lines. This activity would work well in groups of two for about ten to fifteen minutes if you use the exploration questions and five to ten minutes otherwise.

Preparations for this activity:

• give implicit directions on what they are to do. For example "Today we are going to run trials on this applet and see if a pattern appears..."
• answer the question "Why is the probability of the needle landing on a line related to Pi?"
• show how Pi was created.