Question

Find the indicated probability. Round your answer to 6 decimal places when necessary.Find the probability of tossing 1 tails or 1 head on the first 8 tosses of a "fair" coin.

Answer 1

First, find the probability of getting 1 head in 8 tosses

P(1 head) = tosses with exactly 1 head/ total number of possible outcomes

number of outcomes = 2^8 = 256

number of outcomes with 1 head = 8 ( we could get 1 head on the first toss or on the second or on the third......)

P (1 head) = 8/256 = 1/32

The same would be true for tails

P(1 tail) = tosses with exactly 1 tail/ total number of possible outcomes

= 8/256 = 1/32

The formula to calculate the “or” probability of two events A and B is this: P(A OR B) = P(A) + P(B) – P(A AND B).

Since we cannot get P(1 head and 1 tail) since we toss 8 times

P (1head or 1 tail) = 1/32 + 1/32 = 2/32 = 1/16 =.0625