Shodor Computational Science Institute

An Investigation of Straws

Robert M. Panoff, Ph.D.
The Shodor Education Foundation
June 1998

Observations, Exploration, Conjecture

    Behold, you see a box of straws
    Whose contents (perhaps) give you pause.
    What certain knowledge can be hoped
    If you must leave the box unope'd?
1. Describe as best you can the properties of a straw 'believed' to be contained in the box. How sure are you? Why should you care?

2. How many straws might there be in the box? How sure are you? Why should you care?

3. Suppose all the straws in your box were laid end-to-end. How long would such a super straw be? How sure are you? Why should you care?

4. What other conjectures can be made from the information on the box?

5. How much of the information on the box would you expect to be 'true'? How much 'variance' in this truth, if any, might you expect to find? Why?

6. What kinds of non-specific descriptions are on the box? What might they mean?

7. What volume of liquid would you expect a straw in the box to hold? How sure are you? Why should you care?

  Count Length Width Volume Superstraw
Expected          
Actual          
Error          

A Shorter Straws Activity

Last update on: June 9, 1998
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