The coin flip conundrum - Po-Shen Loh
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When you flip a coin to make a decision, there's an equal chance of getting heads and tails. What if you flipped two coins repeatedly, so that one option would win as soon as two heads showed up in a row on that coin, and one option would win as soon as heads was immediately followed by tails on the other? Would each option still have an equal chance? Po-Shen Loh describes the counterintuitive math behind this question.
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3 Open Answer Questions Dig Deeper Learn More Discuss 1 Guided Discussion &
0 Open Discussions
If you flip a coin 1001 times, the expected number of consecutive heads-heads occurrences is exactly 250, which is also exactly the same as the expected number of consecutive heads-tails pairs. Why, then, is the expected time until the first consecutive heads-heads occurrence longer?
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Meet The Creators
- Educator Po-Shen Loh
- Director Mimi Chiu
- Script Editor Eleanor Nelsen
- Producer Aaron Augenblick
- Animator Mimi Chiu
- Collaborator Andrea Janov , Zach Nelkin, Mark Paulson
- Associate Producer Elizabeth Cox, Jessica Ruby
- Content Producer Gerta Xhelo
- Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
- Narrator Addison Anderson
- Fact-Checker Brian Gutierrez
