What is the probability of getting at least one head if you flip a coin 10 times
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What is the probability of getting at least one head if you flip a coin 10 times

[From: ] [author: ] [Date: 11-06-07] [Hit: ]
Whenever you are asked to calculate probabilities like at least one then you should see that as a big hint to calculate none, then invert it. If the probability of none is x, then the probability of at least one is 1-x.You could go the hard way and add up the probability of exactly one, then exactly two,......
some simple equations and trees to help explain this would be great, thank you

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A common trick is to invert so that you calculate something easier, then subtract from 1.

Here, P(10 tails)=(1/2)^10 = 1/1024

So, P(at least one head)=1 - 1/1024 = 1023/1024

Whenever you are asked to calculate probabilities like "at least one" then you should see that as a big hint to calculate "none", then invert it. If the probability of none is x, then the probability of at least one is 1-x.

You could go the hard way and add up the probability of exactly one, then exactly two, three etc. and use diagrams and trees of possible happenings, but that is a much more complex and time-consuming way of getting the same answer.

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Hint: The probability of getting at least 1 head is the same as:
( 1 - probability of never getting a head ).

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this is equal to 1 minus the probability of getting tail in all trial

= 1 - (0.5^10)

= 0.999023438

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h+t (10)

10/2=5
10/5=1/2

1/2=50% chance.

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p(1)= 1 - 10/1024= 99.0234375
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