Twinkies and $200

I've been teaching a unit on Probability in my Algebra 2 class and yesterday we talked about the probabilities of spinning wheels and drawing cards out of a deck. I had a fun experience with these probabilities that I am excited to share with my students:

I stopped at the grocery store on my way home to pick up some milk. I rarely ever visit this particular store because it is kind of out of the way. They were having a Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and asked if I wanted to spin the prize wheel. Yes, the nerdy math teacher thought about probability when she spun the colorful prize wheel and won a small bag of Twinkies. :)

I also filled out an entry form to win a car and put it in the box. As part of their Grand Opening, they were giving away a $200 gift card that day as well. So I waited around to see who won. I thought about how there weren't a whole lot of entry forms in the box and what the probability was of winning. When the store manager started pulling multiple names out of the box because the winners weren't there to claim their prize, I realized that the probability of winning was only about 1 in 40 (there were only about 40 people standing around waiting to see who won). Lucky for me, I was the next name they pulled out of the box!

So not only do I have a fun story about probability to share with my students, I took home a couple of Twinkies and a $200 gift card to the grocery store! And I'm still in the drawing for the car. Do you think I might get lucky again? :)