Practice with Experimental and Theoretical Probability
Theoretical probability is what "should happen." 
Experimental probability is what "actually happens."
Probability is the likelihood of an event happening. 
P(event) = 
# favorable outcomes  # possible outcomes  
a.
b. 
What is the theoretical probability
of selecting a yellow marble?
Joan picks a random marble out of a bag 10 times, and she got a yellow marble 7 times. What is the experimental probability of picking a yellow?
Sean is doing an experiment to see how many tails 
he can get when flipping a coin.
Trial
2
1
3
4
5
6
Outcome
Heads
Tails
Tails
Heads
Tails
Tails
a. What is the theoretical 
probability of getting tails?
b. What was Sean's 
experimental probability 
of getting tails? (in simplest form)
How many times would he expect to land on the 
color red if Michael did 30 spins?
18 times
10 times
60 times
6 times
Michael spins a spinner 10 times
He lands on the color red 6 times.
  red         =   ? # spins    10      30
Hint:
The results of 20 trials of choosing a marble are shown.
What is the experimental probability of getting blue?
Green
10
Yellow
3
Blue
7
A spinner is divided into 5 equal sections as shown. 

What is the theoretical probability of landing 
on any color except red? 
A spinner is divided into 5 equal sections as shown. 
If a student spins the spinner 20 times, how many times would the student expect to landon any color except red? 
Hint:
not red     4   =   ? # spins     5       20
times
Orange   Yellow     Blue     Red    Green   
A spinner is divided into 5 equal sections as shown. 
A student spinned the spinner 20 times. She recorded the results in the table. 
What is the experimental probabilityof landing on any color except red? 
Drag and drop each correct term to finish each statement.
                         probability is what "should happen." 
                          probability is what "actually happens."
Experimental
?
Theoretical
?
P(event)
?
                        is the likelihood of an event happening. 

                = 
Probability
?
# favorable outcomes  # possible outcomes  
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