145k views
1 vote
An experiment consists of tossing a fair coin twice. A student reasons that there are 3 possible outcomes: 2 heads, 2 tails, or 1 of each so he concludes that P(HH) = 1/3Explain where he is reasoning incorrectly

User Berkeley
by
3.1k points

1 Answer

4 votes

The coin is fair, the probability of heads (H) and tails (T)is the same, so:

P (H) = P (T)= 1/2

Probability of 2 heads P(HH) = 1/2 x 1/2 = 1/4

User Boomerang
by
3.5k points