okay, I know this might not make any sense when you first think about it, but really...think...about...it once waaay back when I saw something on bill nye the sience guy (yeah, that long ago) where they were tryin to explain the 50 50 probablity there is when flipping a coin...here how it goes: they show a chart of all the times they flipped a coin, and said that the percentage was indead around 50-50, okay fine and dandy, then they showed a section where there was a lot of heads or tails together, and said that at that moment the percentage was uneven, but it made up for it later in the flipping. Okay, now here's the thing, if that holds true, and a coin will even out to 50-50 (and why wouldn't it) then if you flip a coin and get a bunch of heads in a row, the probability of getting tails later on grows? Does this make any sense? aka, if I flip a coin 100 times, and the first 10 times it flips heads, that means that the coin will now flip more tails in the last 90 than heads to even out, thus eliminating the 50 50 chance...is this true at all?
Yes! I am 18... I remember watching that episode. I think I watched every episode. Bill Nye rules! The odds of getting a tails does not grow. The odds of getting any side n times in a rule on a coin is (1/2)^n. If, say the coin were flipped 5 times and each time, a heads came up, the odds at 1/2^5 = 1/32 = 3.125%. You have defeated the odds. The odds that an other heads will come up is still 1/2. Same goes for tails. I would not count on heads coming up 10 times in a row. The odds of that is 0.09765625% However, there is no rule that it always has to center around 50/50 with a coin. Make a computer program to show you. If you have the ability, have it draw a curve for you. You will see it makes something called the bell curve. Look it up. It is very interesting. You might actually find a trial where heads was flipped 100 times in a rule. Not likely. In fact, very unlikely! However, try a program that flips a coin 25 times. There are only 33554432 different ways 25 flips will come up. James Sibley
High school coin flip While doing the basic flipping routine for a class in school, I took part in a 25-toss experiment that yielded 17 heads in a row. Taken among the entire class, though, the numbers still balanced out to within 1% difference. I think the seeming paradox has something to do with a mistake I still make, switching odds and probability. Odds I generally don't understand. Probability is really easy. But regardless of how many times the coin has come up heads before, the probability is still one in two that I will flip a heads. The odds that a collected set of data will reflect a given pattern as opposed to any other pattern, or a range of patterns as opposed to other ranges, I cannot compute for you. BTW, my favorite Bill Nye moment is called "Speed Walker" ... you have to be from Seattle to know it unless you caught the half-season Almost Live spent on Comedy Whatsit (before it was Comedy Central). I can't find a good image for you. (The image of someone unscrewing the anchors fo the Space Needle ... okay, you have to see it to understand what's so funny, but the Malcom in the Middle speedwalking episode pales by comparison.) :m:, Tiassa Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Haven't you ever read or watched Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
