Coin flip questions made easy
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Stuart Kovinsky
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Coin flip questions made easy
Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:42 pm
Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:42 pm
QuoteI just typed up this detailed explanation to address a specific question and figured that I might as well share it with everyone!
Coin flip strategies
There are numerous ways to solve coin flip questions. One of the quickest is to apply the coin flip formula.
The probability of getting exactly k results out of n flips is:
nCk/2^n
For example , if one wanted to know the probability of getting exactly 3 heads out of 4 flips:
4C3/2^4 = 4/16 = 1/4
As quick as it was to apply the formula, there's an even BETTER way to solve coin flip questions, involving memorizing a few numbers.
Here are the numbers to remember:
1 3 3 1
1 4 6 4 1
1 5 10 10 5 1
Some of you may recognize those patterns as rows of numbers from Pascal's Triangle (I swear, I came up with them first
). The Triangle has a number of uses, but for GMAT purposes one of its most useful applications is to coin flip questions.
The first row applies to 3 flip questions, the second to 4 flip questions and the third to 5 flip questions.
Let's start with the first row, 1 3 3 1, and see how it helps.
"A fair coin is flipped 3 times. What's the probability of getting exactly 2 heads?"
The entries in the row represent the different ways to get 0, 1, 2 and 3 results, respectively. In our question, we want 2 heads, so we go to the 3rd entry in the row, "3".
To find the total number of possibilities, add up the row... 1+3+3+1 = 8
So, our answer is 3/8.
Going back to our original question (exactly 3 heads out of 4 flips):
4 row is 1 4 6 4 1
For 3 heads, we use the 4th entry: 4
Sum of the row is 16
Answer: 4/16 = 1/4
Let's look at a much more complicated question:
"A fair coin is flipped 5 times. What's the probability of getting at least 2 heads?"
If we want at least 2 heads, we want 2 heads, 3 heads, 4 heads OR 5 heads. Pretty much whenever we see "OR" in probability, we add the individual probabilities.
Looking at the 5 flip row, we have 1 5 10 10 5 1. For 2H, 3H, 4H and 5H we add up the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th entries: 10+10+5+1=26.
Summing the whole row, we get 32.
So, the chance of getting at least 2 heads out of 5 flips is 26/32 = 13/16.
Coin flip strategies
There are numerous ways to solve coin flip questions. One of the quickest is to apply the coin flip formula.
The probability of getting exactly k results out of n flips is:
nCk/2^n
For example , if one wanted to know the probability of getting exactly 3 heads out of 4 flips:
4C3/2^4 = 4/16 = 1/4
As quick as it was to apply the formula, there's an even BETTER way to solve coin flip questions, involving memorizing a few numbers.
Here are the numbers to remember:
1 3 3 1
1 4 6 4 1
1 5 10 10 5 1
Some of you may recognize those patterns as rows of numbers from Pascal's Triangle (I swear, I came up with them first
). The Triangle has a number of uses, but for GMAT purposes one of its most useful applications is to coin flip questions.
The first row applies to 3 flip questions, the second to 4 flip questions and the third to 5 flip questions.
Let's start with the first row, 1 3 3 1, and see how it helps.
"A fair coin is flipped 3 times. What's the probability of getting exactly 2 heads?"
The entries in the row represent the different ways to get 0, 1, 2 and 3 results, respectively. In our question, we want 2 heads, so we go to the 3rd entry in the row, "3".
To find the total number of possibilities, add up the row... 1+3+3+1 = 8
So, our answer is 3/8.
Going back to our original question (exactly 3 heads out of 4 flips):
4 row is 1 4 6 4 1
For 3 heads, we use the 4th entry: 4
Sum of the row is 16
Answer: 4/16 = 1/4
Let's look at a much more complicated question:
"A fair coin is flipped 5 times. What's the probability of getting at least 2 heads?"
If we want at least 2 heads, we want 2 heads, 3 heads, 4 heads OR 5 heads. Pretty much whenever we see "OR" in probability, we add the individual probabilities.
Looking at the 5 flip row, we have 1 5 10 10 5 1. For 2H, 3H, 4H and 5H we add up the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th entries: 10+10+5+1=26.
Summing the whole row, we get 32.
So, the chance of getting at least 2 heads out of 5 flips is 26/32 = 13/16.
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Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:43 pm
Thanks Stuart for that. Just to make sure, when they say 3 or 4, but NOT 5 times, and using the triangle you came up invented You only need to add the 4th and 5th position and just ignore the 6th position, not subtract the 5th position or anything like that.
This question may also be elementary too, but I really don't understand the coin flip formula. when you write 4C3, and it solves out to 4, what is the 3 and how does that affect anything. (If you know of a good probability guide or reference I can use, I can look for the answer).
Anywho, thanks for the help with probability q's they are the main thing giving me trouble.
You only need to add the 4th and 5th position and just ignore the 6th position, not subtract the 5th position or anything like that.
This question may also be elementary too, but I really don't understand the coin flip formula. when you write 4C3, and it solves out to 4, what is the 3 and how does that affect anything. (If you know of a good probability guide or reference I can use, I can look for the answer).
Anywho, thanks for the help with probability q's they are the main thing giving me trouble.
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Stuart Kovinsky
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Fri Sep 05, 2008 2:33 pm
Mpalmer22 wrote:
You're correct: if you want exactly 3 or 4 flips, you just add up the 4th and 5th positions in the row.
Thanks Stuart for that. Just to make sure, when they say 3 or 4, but NOT 5 times, and using the triangle you came up invented You only need to add the 4th and 5th position and just ignore the 6th position, not subtract the 5th position or anything like that.
You only need to add the 4th and 5th position and just ignore the 6th position, not subtract the 5th position or anything like that. Quote:
4C3 indicates that I'm using the combinations formula, which we use when we want to count the number of unordered subgroups that can be made out of a group of entities.
This question may also be elementary too, but I really don't understand the coin flip formula. when you write 4C3, and it solves out to 4, what is the 3 and how does that affect anything. (If you know of a good probability guide or reference I can use, I can look for the answer).
Here's the generic formula:
nCk = n!/k!(n-k)!
n = total number of items
k = number of items that you're choosing
When we speak out loud, we usually translate nCk as "n choose k".
In coin flip questions, n is the total number of flips and k is the number of results you want to get. Going back to the first "4 flips, 3 heads" example, we have n=4 and k=3, which is why I solved for 4C3.
To illustrate the math at work:
4C3 = 4!/3!(4-3)! = 4!/3!1! = 4*3*2*1/3*2*1*1 = 4
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Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:47 pm
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Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:27 am
Stuart Kovinsky wrote:
thanks for the wonderful strategy Many test takers see coin flip (or pseudo-coin flip) questions on the GMAT. The better you're doing, the more complicated the probability questions are likely to be.
what do you mean by the "pseudo-coin flip" questions ?
Thanks
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Thu Sep 11, 2008 9:40 am
amitdgr wrote:
Thanks
Any situation in which there are two possible outcomes, each one with a 50% chance.
Stuart Kovinsky wrote:
what do you mean by the "pseudo-coin flip" questions ?
Many test takers see coin flip (or pseudo-coin flip) questions on the GMAT. The better you're doing, the more complicated the probability questions are likely to be.
Thanks
For example:
"A certain volcano has a 50% chance to erupt in any given year. What's the probability that it erupts in exactly 2 years in a 5 year period?"
is really the same question as:
"A fair coin is flipped 5 times. What's the probability that it lands on heads exactly twice?"
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Thu Sep 11, 2008 9:42 am
I get it now Stuart Thanks a lot .... Please share other such strategies also
Thanks a lot .... Please share other such strategies also Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:27 pm
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Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:17 am
amitdgr wrote:
If we want fewer (as a sentence correction aside, we use "fewer" when the noun is countable - less vs fewer is commonly tested on the GMAT Stuart I am not sure if you are still following this thread. If you are, I'd like to know how to solve this particular problem (This is a pseudo coin-flip question)
The probability of a new born baby is a boy is 50% and that of a new born baby is a girl is 50%. Ten mothers are going to give birth to ten babies this morning. What is the probability that at least two babies are boys?
One way of solving this would be, write the pascal's triangle up to the ten coins row and then solve for it. That may take us some time, so can we do it in this way instead
1-probability of less than 2 boys being born
Now my question is, how to find the value of probability of LESS THAN 2 boys being born using the Pascal's triangle.
Thanks
The probability of a new born baby is a boy is 50% and that of a new born baby is a girl is 50%. Ten mothers are going to give birth to ten babies this morning. What is the probability that at least two babies are boys?
One way of solving this would be, write the pascal's triangle up to the ten coins row and then solve for it. That may take us some time, so can we do it in this way instead
1-probability of less than 2 boys being born
Now my question is, how to find the value of probability of LESS THAN 2 boys being born using the Pascal's triangle.
Thanks
) than 2 boys, we want 0 boys or 1 boy.
So, we go to the n=10 row (which is the 11th row down - remember that the apex of the triangle is the n=0 row) and add up the first 2 entries. The sum of the row will be 2^10.
It would actually be much quicker to do this using combinations, since we're looking at k values of 0 and 1:
10C0 = 1 (any nC0 = 1)
10C1 = 10 (any nC1 = n)
In fact, by the above principles (or just by looking at the triangle), we can see that the first two entries in every row are 1 and n (and, since the rows are symmetrical, the last two entries in every row are n and 1).
So, the answer would be:
1 - (1 + 10)/2^10
1 - 11/2^10
1024/1024 - 11/1024
(1024 - 11)/1024 = 1013/1024
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