Probability Assignment

Probability Project

Fair Coin

You will be flipping a coin and recording the outcomes. You need to consider a few questions as

you do this experiment. Be sure to include your answers to the following questions in your

report.

 How was the coin flipped?

 Which side was facing up?

 What occurs if you drop the coin? Count it as it falls or re-flip?

You will be collecting the data in numerical format to present information of the outcomes. You

should toss the coin at least 40 times. As you flip the coin, use the following table to record the

data. In the Total number of Heads column, you will keep a running total of heads from the

“Outcome H or T” column. For each row, the % Heads is calculated by dividing the number in

the Total number of Heads column by the Trial number.

Trial Number Start up - H or T Outcome H or T Total number of

Heads

% Heads

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

After you have completed the table include it in your report and answer the following questions.

What do you conclude about the percent heads column? How does that relate to what you have

learned about statistics?

When you consider the percentage of heads, you can look at it graphically. Use Excel to plot

(x,y) where x is the trial number and y is the percentage of heads. You can use Excel to create

your plot. Copy the % Heads column to Excel. Then select the column and choose Insert >

Chart > Line. The chart will be created for you. Copy and include the chart in your report.

After you plot the points, connect them. What does that tell you?

1 .9 .8 .7 .6 .5 .4 .3 .2 .1 0

X

y 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1

0

1

1

1

2

1

3

1

4

1

5

1

6

1

7

1

8

1

9

2

0

2

1

2

2

2

3

2

4

2

5

2

6

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7

2

8

2

9

3

0

3

1

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2

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3

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4

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5

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6

3

7

3

8

3

9

4

0

Does what you see in the table and graph align? Make a conjecture about the coin.

With your conjecture, what does it say about the official coin flip for a sporting event? Do you

think that calling it even or fair? Do you think you can call it correctly more that 50% of the

time?

USE APA & CITE !!!