If you flip a fair coin, the probability of it landing on tails is 50% or 1/2.
Here’s why:
- A coin has two sides: heads and tails.
- Assuming it’s a fair coin, meaning there’s no bias towards either side, each outcome (heads or tails) has an equal chance of occurring.
- Therefore, there’s one favorable outcome (tails) out of two possible outcomes, resulting in a probability of 1/2 or 50%.
What is the probability of getting tails when you flip a coin?
Suppose you have a fair coin: this means it has a 50% chance of landing heads up and a 50% chance of landing tails up.
Is coin flipping really 50/50?
“Consequently, the coin has a higher chance of landing on the same side as it started (i.e., ‘same-side bias’).” Diaconis found, from a smaller ideal number of coin tosses recorded and analyzed, that coins land on the same side they were tossed from around 51 percent of the time.
Why did we not get 50% heads and 50% tails?
Great question! In 2007, researchers theorised that when a coin is flipped, the flipper’s thumb imparts a slight wobble to it, causing it to spend more time with one side facing upwards while in the air and making it more likely to land showing that side.