Resource Library

This online, interactive lesson on distributions provides examples, exercises, and applets which explore the basic types of probability distributions and the ways distributions can be defined using density functions, distribution functions, and quantile functions.

This site gives an explanation of, a definition for and an example of confidence intervals. It covers topics including inference about population mean and z and t critical values.

This is the description and instructions as well as a link for the Forest Fires and Percolation applet. It builds a background with a "hands-on" activity for the students which then leads to the applet itself. The applet is a game where the object is to save as many trees from the forest fire as possible. It shows the spread of a fire with the variable of density and the probabilty of the number of surviving trees.

This site provides the description and instructions for as well as the link to The Self-Avoiding Random Walk applet. In the SAW applet, random walks start on a square lattice and then are discarded as soon as they self-intersect. If a random walk survives after N steps, we compute the square of the distance from the origin, sum it up, and divide by the number of survivals. This variable is plotted on the vertical axis of the graph, which is plotted to the right of the field where random walks travel.

This site provides the description and instructions for as well as the link to the Diffusion Limited Aggregation: Growing Fractal Structures applet. This applet strives to describe, classify, and measure different random fractal patterns in nature.

This is the description and instructions for the the Anthill and Molecular Motion applet. Topics include mixing, diffusion, and contour plots.

This is the description and instructions for the Two-Dimensional Random Walk applet. This Applet relates random coin-flipping to random motion but in more than one direction (dimension). It covers mean squared distance in the discussion.

This is the description and instructions for the One-Dimensional Random Walk applet. This Applet relates random coin-flipping to random motion. It strives to show that randomness (coin-flipping) leads to some sort of predictable outcome (the bell-shaped curve).

This is the description and instructions for the Can You Beat Randomness?- The Lottery Game applet. It is a simulation of flipping coins. Students are asked to make conjectures about randomness and how certain strategies affect randomness. It strives to show the "growth of order out of randomness."

This is the description and instructions for the Monte Carlo Estimation of Pi applet. It is a simulation of throwing darts at a figure of a circle inscribed in a square. It shows the relationship between the geometry of the figure and the statistical outcome of throwing the darts.