Two players each flip a fair coin. The probability that they get the same result can be expressed as ab where a and b are coprime positive integers. What is the value of a+b?

Dont get the a+b :(

You must be referring to your earlier post here

http://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1365593486

I had the probabily as 1/4
comparing this with a/b ----> a=1 and b=4
then a+b = 1+4 = 5

wasnt 5 :(

is it 3?

yes it is 3

To calculate the probability that the two players get the same result when flipping a fair coin, we need to determine how many favorable outcomes there are and divide that by the total number of possible outcomes.

Let's break down the problem step by step:

Step 1: Determine the favorable outcomes
The players can get the same result in two ways: either both players get heads or both players get tails. So, there are two favorable outcomes.

Step 2: Determine the total number of possible outcomes
Since each player flips a fair coin, there are two possible outcomes for each player: heads or tails. Since there are two players, we multiply the number of outcomes for each player together to get the total number of possible outcomes. Thus, there are 2 x 2 = 4 possible outcomes.

Step 3: Calculate the probability
The probability is calculated by dividing the number of favorable outcomes by the total number of possible outcomes. In this case, it is 2/4 = 1/2.

Now, we need to express the probability as ab, where a and b are coprime positive integers.

The fraction 1/2 is already in simplest form, so we can identify a = 1 and b = 2.

Finally, we need to find the value of a+b, which is 1+2 = 3.

Therefore, the value of a+b is 3.

I hope this clarifies the calculation for you!