D2.1 Use fractions to express the probability of events happening, represent this probability on a probability line, and use it to make predictions and informed decisions.
Skill: Represent the Probability of an Event Occurring Using a Fraction
The numerical values of the probability of events range from 0 to 1.
Fractions can be used to represent the probability of an event on a continuum from 0 to 1. Teachers should ask students to make connections between words to describe the probability of an event (Grade 4) and fractions that can be used to represent these points on a probability line.
Source : The Ontario Curriculum. Mathematics, Grades 1-8 Ontario Ministry of Education, 2020.
Knowledge: Probability Line
As students understand that it is possible to use a fraction to describe the probability of an outcome, they can place that outcome on a probability line.
image Line of probability. The line is straight. In the middle is the word "probable". There is an arrow to the left and an arrow to the right. Below the line, from left to right, it is written: zero, a quarter, a half, three quarters and a whole. Above the right, opposite zero it says "impossible", opposite one quarter it says "1 in 4 possibility", opposite one half it says "1 in 2 possibility", opposite three quarters it says "3 in 4 possibility" and opposite one it says "certain".
Source: translated from Guide d’enseignement efficace des mathématiques, de la 4e à la 6e année, Traitement des données et probabilité, p. 141-142.