Teaching Basic Probability in Undergraduate Statistics or Management Science Courses.

Abstract

Standard textbooks in core Statistics and Management Science classes present various examples to introduce basic probability concepts to undergraduate business students. These include tossing of a coin, throwing a die, and examples of that nature. While these are good examples to introduce basic probability, we use improvised versions of Russian Roulette and found these to be very effective in communicating important concepts in probability to our business school students. We use these modified versions of Russian Roulette to communicate concepts such as dependent event, joint probabilities and the value of information using Bayes’ law. The students understand and enjoy these examples and the class participation has been higher than usual.