Science project
Influencing a Coin Flip
Grade Level: 5th - 8th; Type: Statistics
Objective:
To find out whether the outcome of a coin flip can be influenced by the person flipping the coin.
The purpose of this experiment is to determine first the probability of a coin landing heads or tails and second whether the person flipping a coin can influence the coin to land one way or another.
Research Questions:
- What does it mean, in the study of mathematics, if something is said to be random?
- What is the statistical probability that a coin, when flipped 100 times, will land heads up 100 times?
- What is the statistical probability that a coin, when flipped 100 times, will land heads up 50 times and tails up 50 times?
- What is the statistical probability that a coin, when flipped 100 times, will alternate between heads and tails each time?
- What is a significant statistical deviation?
- How many trials are needed to view statistically significant results?
- How accurate is statistical data?
- How can statistics be used to mislead?
A coin flip has long been used as an impartial determiner. Given a choice between two options, some people turn to the flip of a coin to tell them which option to choose. Coin flips are sometimes even used to determine which sports team will start with possession of the ball, which can give a significant advantage to one team or the other. Though it seems that over a large number of trials a coin will land heads or tails an even number of times, there are some studies that suggest that a coin flip may not be a truly random event. People influence the world around them in many different ways. It may be possible for the person flipping a coin to alter the trajectory of that coin such that it will land on heads or tails more often than probability would predict.
Materials:
- A quarter
- A few willing participants
Experimental Procedure:
- Flip a coin 100 times. Do not attempt to influence the results in any way, just flip the coin, allow it to land on the floor, a table, or another surface and record the results.
- Record the results on a chart such as the one below.
- Flip a coin 100 times, trying to make the coin land heads up. Allow the coin to land on the floor, a table, or another surface.
- Record the results.
- Flip a coin 100 times, trying to make the coin land heads up. Catch the coin in the air and flip it upside-down one more time onto the back of your other hand.
- Record the results.
- Repeat steps 1-6 with other participants. The more trials you perform, the more accurate your results will be.
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Trial #
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Attempt to influence?
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Caught the coin?
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Heads (keep a running tally)
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Tails (keep a running tally)
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1 (participant 1)
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No
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No
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2 (participant 1)
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Yes
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No
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3 (participant 1)
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Yes
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Yes
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4 (participant 2)
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No
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No
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5 (participant 2)
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Yes
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No
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Terms/Concepts: random;probability; statistic; statistical significance; influence results; deviation
References:
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