why does theoretical probability not align with practice?

1.59K views

For example, when I flip a coin, I have a 1/2 chance of getting head, and the same chance at getting tails. With that theory, if I toss a coin 50 times, I should get 25 heads, and 25 tails.

​

However, I did 3 rounds of 50 coin flips, with results of:

1. 28 heads, 22 tails
2. 27 heads, 23 tails
3. 27 heads, 23 tails.

I assumed that perhaps the coins weren’t “true”. Maybe the sides are waited different, maybe I tossed with different height/force each time. So I went virtual, and switched to having a computer roll a dice.

​

I should have a 1/6 chance at rolling a number between 1-6. So 60 rolls, should have each number come up 10 times. But in practice my results were:

1. 14
2. 9
3. 8
4. 13
5. 6
6. 10

So how come practice/reality, doesn’t align with theory, even when we take human error out of the equation?

In: 34

41 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

When you flipped the coin, did you start from the same position each time (ie heads / tails), measure the force and speed the coin was flipped at to make sure that’s conisistent etc? So many variables here. The small sample size isn’t enough to really show trends either.

You are viewing 1 out of 41 answers, click here to view all answers.