Question

You flip a coin 50 times. Of the 50 flips, the coin landed on heads 30 times. Use the questions below to compare the experimental probability of flipping heads with the theoretical probability of flipping heads.

Answer 1

Given:

Of the 50 flips, the coin landed on heads 30 times.

To find:

The experimental probability of flipping heads and compare it with the theoretical probability of flipping heads.

Solution:

We have,

Total number of trials = 50

Total number of heads = 30

The experimental probability of flipping heads is:

$\text{Experimental probability}=\dfrac{\text{Total number of heads}}{\text{Total number of trials}}$

$\text{Experimental probability}=\dfrac{30}{50}$

$\text{Experimental probability}=\dfrac{3}{5}$

$\text{Experimental probability}=0.6$

A coin has two sides one is heads and another is tails. So, the theoretical probability of flipping heads is:

$\text{Theoretical probability}=\dfrac{1}{2}$

$\text{Theoretical probability}=0.5$

Therefore, the experimental probability of flipping heads is 0.6 and the theoretical probability of flipping heads is 0.5. So, the experimental probability is greater than the theoretical probability of flipping heads.