Imagine that we flip a fair coin 1,000 times. How many times would the coin come up heads in 1,000 flips?
The correct answer and explanation is:
Correct Answer:
The coin would come up heads approximately 500 times in 1,000 flips.
Explanation (Approximately 300 words):
When flipping a fair coin, there are two possible outcomes for each flip: heads or tails. A fair coin means that each outcome has an equal probability, or 50% (0.5), of occurring.
If we flip this fair coin once, the probability of getting heads is 0.5. This means that if we flipped the coin over and over again under the same conditions, we would expect heads to occur about half the time.
Now, let’s consider flipping the coin 1,000 times. Since the probability of getting heads on each flip is 0.5, we expect: 0.5×1,000=500 heads0.5 \times 1,000 = 500 \text{ heads}
This is not a guarantee that we will get exactly 500 heads every time we flip a coin 1,000 times, but it is the expected value, or the average result we would anticipate in the long run over many sets of 1,000 flips.
In practice, randomness introduces some variation, so in any single set of 1,000 coin flips, you might get 498, 504, or 492 heads. However, the law of large numbers tells us that as the number of trials (flips) increases, the average outcome will get closer to the expected value — in this case, 500 heads.
This concept is very important in probability and statistics. It helps in making predictions in situations involving randomness. In real-world applications, such as in games of chance, simulations, and risk assessments, knowing the expected outcome can help with decision-making.
To summarize, when flipping a fair coin 1,000 times, you would expect about 500 heads, although the actual number might vary slightly due to chance.