California Middle School Mathematics Concepts and Skills: Course 2

Write this question on the board: “Why do you think an airplane designer has to understand the mathematics of probabilities?” Tell students you want them to think about that as they watch Futures Channel Move #1003 Flights of Imagination.

After the movie, discuss student answers to the question, and guide them to understanding that an airplane is composed of many parts, and it is possible for those parts to break or fail. Explain that modern jet aircraft designers are required by law to design airplanes that have a probability of having an accident during a one-hour flight of about one in a billion. That means they have to think about all of the possible ways that an airplane could have problems, and design and build extra safety systems to account for those.

Tell students that designing these systems requires an understanding of the mathematics of probabilities, which they will be learning about in this chapter.