Programming and Probability
To enhance our knowledge on probability and programming, our grade did a project that consisted of making a video game, and did activities to further enhance our knowledge on this subject. The activities were interactive and we were collaborative with our table group. We'd use dice and coins as examples of probability for a majority of the project. This way, we'd get a deep understanding of what we were learning about.
Benchmark 1In benchmark 1, our partners that we were creating our games with had to brainstorm for a video game that we'd eventually create on StarLogo Nova. StarLogo Nova is a programming website with a ton of glitches, so it was frustrating to work on throughout the project.
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Benchmark 2This benchmark had two parts. First, you would provide a great description of the game you were going to make, and then how it will be played. You'd have to write down on a paper all your ideas for sound and keys and how each player will know what to do. Then you had to describe the probability part of the game, and how you'll be calculating it later.
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Benchmark 4In this benchmark, you used your knowledge on probability to analyze mathematically the outcomes of the game you've created. You come up with two events from the game and create a probability tree to show the fractions of the events happening. You also had to include a chart the summed up the probability that included event A and B.
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Starving Starving Raccoons
What started out as Hungry Hungry Hippos, ended with a brilliant game called Starving Starving Raccoons. The objective of the game is to collect as many orange apples as you can, and hope you aren't touched by the terrible poop. (Also known as a small carrot) To move, each player has a certain key that triggers the characters. Push either the l key, the a key, the space bar, or t to move. If you get touched by the moving poop (carrot), your score moved down immediately from a random number between 1-20. You start by pressing setup, and to toggle the game, you press "release apples". This makes the apples and the poop scatter so you can collect points. The game is over once all the apple are eaten.
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Reflection
Throughout this project I most definitely used conjecture and test during the creation of my video game. I wasn't and still am not a professional of the program StarLogo Nova, so I had to constantly test different codes to see what would and wouldn't work. This project took a few weeks, so my partner and I had to work quickly yet hard to make our game perfect. Another habit of a mathematician I used was take apart and put back together. This relates to the conjecture and test part because I tested and took apart different coding for the video game part. And during the dice/coin activities, I had to look for structure and patterns in the expressions used to find event A and B. Some challenges throughout this project was starting the game, because I wasn't sure what codes to put first. I had some help from my peers, and I'm thankful for their advice. Another challenge was finding the patterns between some of the tables when doing the activities. After this project, I feel more confident with probability, and I know that you can never stop learning enough from one subject.