A coin is flipped at the start of every game to determine if Team A (heads) or Team B (tails) will get the ball first.

Question

A coin is flipped at the start of every game to determine if Team A (heads) or Team B (tails) will get the ball first.

Part A: Find the theoretical probability of a fair coin landing on heads. (2 points)

Part B: Flip a coin 20 times and record the frequency of each outcome. (4 points)

Part C: Determine the experimental probability of landing on heads. (4 points)

Part D: Compare the theoretical and experimental probabilities. Explain your answer. (2 points)

Answer 1

Part A: The theoretical probability of a fair coin landing on heads is 1/2 or 50%.

Part B:
- Heads: 9
- Tails: 11

Part C: The experimental probability of landing on heads is 9/20 or 45%.

Part D: The theoretical probability of landing on heads is 50% while the experimental probability is 45%. This slight difference may be due to random chance in the small sample size of 20 coin flips. As the number of trials increase, the experimental probability is expected to converge towards the theoretical probability of 50%.