Consider that a breakfast cereal company is running a promotion by inserting a famous mathematician card into each box of cereal. If there are 6 different cards in the set and the placement of cards is equal and random, how many boxes of cereal on average would you expect are needed in order to collect the full set of cards? Participants will partake in hands-on investigation of the card (or coupon) collector problem with the opportunity to explore through intuition, simulation and calculation. This classic problem could be used as the basis for a Mathematical Methods Investigation task, specifically examining expectation, probability distribution and confidence intervals. However, at a basic level, it is also accessible to junior students and can be used to meet the F-10 curriculum requirement to “conduct simulations, using digital tools to determine probabilities and describe results (VC2M8P03)."

Key takeaways:
1. Resource materials that could form the basis of a VCE Mathematical Methods investigation task.
2. Activities that can help fulfil the F-10 curriculum requirement to ‘conduct simulations, using digital tools to
determine probabilities and describe results’.
3. Appreciation of the underlying mathematics of a classic problem of probability.

Remember: Not essential, but a CAS calculator of your preferred platform will be helpful.