Coin Toss-Predictable?

[King Colt]

In a book entitled, "Mathletics" author John D.Barrow states it is statistically proven if you chose the side of the coin facing up you are more likely to win the toss. Should this be factual why are the coins at all levels of football viewable in the referees hand? Think what the consequences could be at college and pro levels. The coin should be hidden from view.

[Flux]

Its not exactly common knowledge or the away team would win the toss almost every single time...if it ever gets to the point where the away team wins every time AND the people actually notice, then i think a rule will be made about it.

[supremecoltsfan300]

In a book entitled, "Mathletics" author John D.Barrow states it is statistically proven if you chose the side of the coin facing up you are more likely to win the toss. Should this be factual why are the coins at all levels of football viewable in the referees hand? Think what the consequences could be at college and pro levels. The coin should be hidden from view.

I don't believe it's factual at all. You have know clue how strong a person will flip the coin and that is what determines how high it will go and how fast it will be flipping in the air. There is a 50/50 chance regardless of what side is up in the long run.

[Nobody]

I don't believe it's factual at all. You have know clue how strong a person will flip the coin and that is what determines how high it will go and how fast it will be flipping in the air. There is a 50/50 chance regardless of what side is up in the long run.

You can't argue with science, Supreme.

[21isSuperman]

"More likely to win" could mean something insignificant like 53%, so it's probably not a huge deal

[supremecoltsfan300]

I don't believe it's factual at all. You have know clue how strong a person will flip the coin and that is what determines how high it will go and how fast it will be flipping in the air. There is a 50/50 chance regardless of what side is up in the long run.

No* not know lol.

And I stand by that there is no scientific proof that you are "more likely to win the toss."

The science of statistics/probablities says that the coin flip will be 50/50 as long as the referee is not doing to intentionally change the outcome (for example, if the referee dropped the coin straight down from 6 inches off the ground and that was his "flip", then most of the time the side facing up initially will also be the side facing up after the toss.

[IndyTrav]

That is factually wrong.

[ColtStrong]

I don't believe it's factual at all. You have know clue how strong a person will flip the coin and that is what determines how high it will go and how fast it will be flipping in the air. There is a 50/50 chance regardless of what side is up in the long run.

I agree. There are just too many variables.

[RGIII]

No* not know lol.

And I stand by that there is no scientific proof that you are "more likely to win the toss."

The science of statistics/probablities says that the coin flip will be 50/50 as long as the referee is not doing to intentionally change the outcome (for example, if the referee dropped the coin straight down from 6 inches off the ground and that was his "flip", then most of the time the side facing up initially will also be the side facing up after the toss.

You are fundamentally wrong here as the only way to achieve a split that approaches a perfect 50/50 as your sample size increases is to assume complete and total randomness of nearly every single variable at play. That just doesn't happen in the real world, where many of those variables tend to be at least somewhat controlled (e.g., coin tossing procedure).

Some reading for you:

http://www.codingthewheel.com/archives/the-coin-flip-a-fundamentally-unfair-proposition/

[supremecoltsfan300]

You are fundamentally wrong here as the only way to achieve a split that approaches a perfect 50/50 as your sample size increases is to assume complete and total randomness of nearly every single variable at play. That just doesn't happen in the real world, where many of those variables tend to be at least somewhat controlled (e.g., coin tossing procedure).

Some reading for you:

http://www.codingthe...ir-proposition/

If you flipped a coin 1 billion times it should be even. Yes, while in the real world things do not behave perfectly all the time, the result would be as close to 50/50. 50.0000000000001% heads to 49.000000000000009% tails could be the actual results. The point is that it is impossible to predict what the result will be from flipping the coin; you don't know what that .0000000000000001% will favor. It doesn't matter what you pick-heads or tails-your chances are the same.

[RGIII]

If you flipped a coin 1 billion times it should be even. Yes, while in the real world things do not behave perfectly all the time, the result would be as close to 50/50. 50.0000000000001% heads to 49.000000000000009% tails could be the actual results. The point is that it is impossible to predict what the result will be from flipping the coin; you don't know what that .0000000000000001% will favor. It doesn't matter what you pick-heads or tails-your chances are the same.

You didn't check out the link, did you?

[IndyTrav]

You didn't check out the link, did you?

I did.

The odds are 50/50.

This article is talking about adding variables to ensure a non random outcome. At which point they still struggled.

People used to or still do try these things with dice. Little tricks to get it to land where you want. Let it slide off your hand. Drop it etc.

[supremecoltsfan300]

I did read it. If you read the article, and read the comments that highlight some of the fallacies in the article, it's made apparent that it's still 50/50.

[ruksak]

Most ridiculous thing I've read for some time.

I'm a bit of a country bumkin......not real sharp with math, but I need only common sense to know a coin-flip is 50/50 with no tendencies reliant on which side is face up. That's stupid.