Simulation Classroom Exercises

Objectives: To be able to:
  1. Use the Rand and Trunc functions to perform simulations in a spreadsheet,
  2. Use the If, And, Or and Frequency functions to process the results of the simulations, and
  3. Retain these skills so that completing the computer exercises in later units in the course will not take too long.

Example 1:
Simulate 100 rolls of an icosahedral (i.e., 20-sided) die. How many of the rolls were within one average deviation of the median?

Example 2:
Simulate playing "Rock, Paper, Scissors" 30 times and 300 times. How many non-ties are there in each case?

Each exercise is meant to be done on a separate spreadsheet. Since we are not allowed to save files on the hard drive on these computers, do not "Close" a spreadsheet as you finish it; rather, just "Open" a "New" spreadsheet for each exercise.

Exercise A:

  1. Create 20 randomly generated whole numbers between 1 and 10 (inclusive) so that each digit is equally likely to appear, whether or not it appears elsewhere.
  2. Find the average and standard deviation of the numbers.
  3. Using the Frequency function, find out how many are within one SD of the average.
  4. Check your results by counting by hand.
  5. Create a new list of 1000 such numbers and find out how many are within one SD of the average.
  6. Does this match what we expect for a normal distribution?

Exercise B:
Simulate two people picking numbers 1, 2 or 3. If they match, person A wins: if they do not match, person B wins. Determine how many of 100 games person A wins.

Exercise C:

  1. Simulate 50 coins being tossed, and count the number of times a head comes up.
  2. Set up 30 of these simulations in a single spreadsheet.
  3. Use the Frequency command to determine how many of these 30 simulations have