Presentation at the Creating Balance for an Unjust World Conference. Los Angeles, CA. Presentation with participating high school students and teachers. (January 2014).

1.  Please open your computers/tablets if you
have them and connect to the wifi:
 The wifi server does not show up automatically. Go to
“Join Other Network” and enter: 8886.
WEP Password: 48532d383838362d3131383030
 Some people say the lottery is a tax on the
mathematically illiterate. What do you
think?Jot down your thoughts silently.

2. Alex Cristando
Lauren Shookhoff
Mat Sullivan
Phiola McFarlane
Soledad Fernandez
Vivian Lim
Learning Mathematics of the City in the City (LMCITY^2)
Centering the Teaching of Mathematics on Urban Youth (CTMUY)
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 0742614
and 1222430. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Cheyanne Smith
Melissa Cabral
Nicole Delvalle
Tamara Rowe

3.  NSF-funded project
 Curriculum and tools
created by math
educators from the City
University of New York
and MIT’s Civic Data
Design Lab, with input
from the Center of
Urban Pedagogy
 Teachers are Math for
America early career or
master teachers

5. TEACHERS
 Alex Cristando, Mat Sullivan, Lauren Shookhoff
◦ Bushwick School for Social Justice, Bushwick, Brooklyn
 Soledad Fernandez
◦ New Heights Academy Charter School,
Washington Heights, Manhattan
 Phiola McFarlane
◦ East New York Family Academy
East New York, Brooklyn
STUDENTS – From Bushwick School for Social Justice
 Melissa Cabral
 Nicole Delvalle
 Cheyanne Smith
 Tamara Rowe

6.  Team Facilitator (Furthest)
 Resource Manager
 Tool Facilitator
 Reporter (Closest)

7.  To Play: Choose 3 of the following 5 colors.
 To Win: Match all 3 winning colors, in any
order.

11. From the New York State Lottery website: “Sweet Million is your
best chance from the New York Lottery to win a million for just a
buck.”
The probability is 1 in about 4 million. But how big is 4
million??????
Game Cost to Play Next Jackpot Probability of
Winning
Sweet Millions $1 per game $1 million
(always)
1 in 3,838,380
Powerball $2 per game $113 million
(varies daily)
1 in 175,223,510
Mega Millions $1 per game $41 million
(varies daily)
1 in 258,890,850
Lotto $1 for 2
games
$6.5 million
(varies daily)
1 in 22,528,737

12. What is 4 million?
4 million pennies
stacked up would be
how tall?

13. What is 4 million?
4 million pennies
stacked up would be
how tall?
3.9 miles…
or 20,592 feet…

14. What is 4 million?
4 million pennies
stacked up would be
how tall?
3.9 miles…
or about 20,300
feet…
or the equivalent of
the height of 16
Empire State
buildings!

15. What is 4 million?
If you walked 4 million steps west of
Brooklyn, where would you land? New Jersey?
Pennsylvania? Ohio?

16. What is 4 million?
If you walked 4 million steps west of
Brooklyn, where would you land? New Jersey?
Pennsylvania? Ohio?
Topeka, Kansas

17. What is 4 million?
If you read a list of 4 million names out
loud without stopping (yes, that means
no sleeping either!), how long would it
take?

18. What is 4 million?
If you read a list of 4 million names out
loud without stopping (yes, that means
no sleeping either!), how long would it
take?
70 days

19. Chances of Winning Sweet Million:
About 1 / 4,000,000
This is like…
You put the name of every male
person in New York City in a hat
(about 4,000,000 names). You pull
out exactly one name, and it’s…

20. Chances of Winning Sweet Million:
About 1 / 4,000,000
This is like…
You put the name of every male
person in New York City in a hat
(about 4,000,000 names). You pull
out exactly one name, and it’s…
Jay-Z

21. What factors do you think
might impact lottery
spending across the city?
In other words, why might
more lottery tickets be
purchased in one
neighborhood over
another?

22.  Go to our website: www.citydigits.org
 Click on “Technology” tab
 Choose the Map tool

23.  Student & Teacher reflections on the project
 Check out more student opinions and
reflections in Tours tab

24.  Some people say the lottery is a tax on the
mathematically illiterate. What do you think?

25. There has been little discussion so far about
how race might be central in an analysis of
the lottery. Thoughts on that issue?

26. citydigits.org
Tools
Curriculum Resources
Coming soon: The Math of Pawn Shops