Flipping a coin

tutubird · by **tutubird** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 3:34 am GMT

I was just wondering, the chances of flipping a coin say 100 times in a row heads is 1/ ( 2^100) correct?

fiezk · by **fiezk** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 10:00 am GMT

The chances of getting heads or tails 100 times in a row is 1/(2^99), the chances of getting either predetermined 100 times in a row is 1/(2^100).

On a side note. Say heads is facing upwards when flipping that coin. Studies show that that side will win about 50.5 percent of the time.

LeafsFan1122 · by **LeafsFan1122** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 11:39 pm GMT

fiezk wrote:On a side note. Say heads is facing upwards when flipping that coin. Studies show that that side will win about 50.5 percent of the time.

Awesome, I was unaware of that!

Why is that?

Arkwell · by **Arkwell** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 9:42 pm GMT

I would think it was an unreliable experiment

The height at which you toss it would also depend on how many rotations it would have, and I doubt very much that the side in which it starts on plays a role in the side in which it lands on

Just seems false to me...

kainARGH · by **kainARGH** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 12:29 am GMT

Arkwell wrote:I would think it was an unreliable experiment

The height at which you toss it would also depend on how many rotations it would have, and I doubt very much that the side in which it starts on plays a role in the side in which it lands on

Just seems false to me...

Unless some poor shmuch fliped it 100,000 times , then I might believe him.

fiezk · by **fiezk** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 7:22 am GMT

kainARGH wrote:
Arkwell wrote:I would think it was an unreliable experiment

The height at which you toss it would also depend on how many rotations it would have, and I doubt very much that the side in which it starts on plays a role in the side in which it lands on

Just seems false to me...

Unless some poor shmuch fliped it 100,000 times , then I might believe him.

I read about the study in a poker magazine. A professor at Stanford conducted the experiment using lots of students as coin flippers. According to the article, the sample was big enough to prove his theory.

supafrey · by **supafrey** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:25 am GMT

There is no sample size big enough to prove anything.

But I thought that was a weight issue.. coins aren't perfectly balanced.

tame_deuces · by **tame_deuces** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 12:12 pm GMT

If we test a coin alot.

And we get a majority of tails.

And we accept that if everything is nicely balanced everything should be random.

Then I'd always bet tails.

It either doesn't matter or it does...so I chose the answer that is the most likely to contain the best of both worlds.

Flipping a coin

Flipping a coin

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