Coin Toss

Four unbiased coins are tossed. We know that at least one of the four coins lands a head.
Now what is the probability that all coins land a head?

Round your answer to three decimal places.


The answer is 0.067.

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3 solutions

Peter Macgregor
Jun 1, 2015

There are 2 4 = 16 2^4=16 possible outcomes to four coin tosses. However we are told that there is at least one head. This rules out one outcome, TTTT. So in the given problem there are fifteen possible, equally likely outcomes. Only one of these is HHHH, and so the desired probability is

1 15 0.067 \frac{1}{15}\approx 0.067

I thought 1 coin always go head. Therefore the probability denominator is 8 and not 16.

Joaquin Frago - 6 years ago

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When we say that one of the coins lands heads, we know that the 15 italicized/bolded outcomes of the 16 possible work:

  • TTTT
  • HTTT
  • THTT
  • TTHT
  • TTTH
  • HHTT
  • HTHT
  • HTTH
  • THHT
  • THTH
  • TTHH
  • HHHT
  • HHTH
  • HTHH
  • THHH
  • HHHH

If the question said if there were coins A, B, C, and D and we knew that coin A landed heads, then you would be correct and the following 8 italicized/bolded of the 16 possible would work because the first coin is heads in those 8 outcomes:

  • TTTT
  • HTTT
  • THTT
  • TTHT
  • TTTH
  • HHTT
  • HTHT
  • HTTH
  • THHT
  • THTH
  • TTHH
  • HHHT
  • HHTH
  • HTHH
  • THHH
  • HHHH

Manvith Narahari - 6 years ago

YES ACCORDING TO THE QUESTION THE ANSWER SHOULD BE 1/8 BECAUSE ONE COIN ALWAYS GOES HEAD... ITS KNOWN

Ronit Chaudhuri - 6 years ago

That's a convincing solution. Can it be solved using Binomial distribution? Could you please help me with this, its for my educational purpose.

Jayadeep CP - 6 years ago

Let A A be the event that all 4 4 coins show heads and let B B be the event that at least one of the coins shows a head. Now the conditional probability

P ( A B ) = P ( A B ) P ( B ) P(A|B) = \dfrac{P(A \cap B)}{P(B)} and P ( A B ) = P ( B A ) = P ( B A ) P ( A ) , P(A \cap B) = P(B \cap A) = P(B|A)*P(A),

and thus P ( A B ) = P ( B A ) P ( A ) P ( B ) . P(A|B) = \dfrac{P(B|A)*P(A)}{P(B)}. (This is known as Bayes' Theorem .)

If event A A occurs then so must event B , B, so P ( B A ) = 1. P(B|A) = 1.

Next, since each coin can show heads with probability 1 2 , \dfrac{1}{2}, we have that P ( A ) = ( 1 2 ) 4 = 1 16 . P(A) = \left(\dfrac{1}{2}\right)^{4} = \dfrac{1}{16}.

Finally, since the complement B ˉ \bar{B} of B B is the event that all coins show tails, which occurs with probability 1 16 , \dfrac{1}{16}, we have that

P ( B ) = 1 P ( B ˉ ) = 1 1 16 = 15 16 . P(B) = 1 - P(\bar{B}) = 1 - \dfrac{1}{16} = \dfrac{15}{16}.

Thus P ( A B ) = 1 1 16 15 16 = 1 15 = 0.067 P(A|B) = \dfrac{1*\frac{1}{16}}{\frac{15}{16}} = \dfrac{1}{15} = \boxed{0.067} to two significant figures.

Whats wrong in this.. We alrdy know the coin that will give a head..so probability of all heads= heads for rest of the three coins=1/8

Dhiman Bhattacharyya - 6 years ago

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There's nothing wrong with that interpretation; the wording of the question is ambiguous. The interpretation that yields the posted answer is that "at least one of the four coins lands a head." The question has been reported because of this ambiguity, so hopefully when a moderator reviews the wording you will get credit for answering the question.

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years ago

The fifth line, ( 1 2 ) 4 = 1 16 \left ( \frac{1}{2} \right )^{4}=\frac{1}{16} . Not squared.

Jessica Wang - 6 years ago

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Edit made; thanks for catching that typo. :)

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years ago
Mike Housky
Jun 2, 2015

1/15 : There are 15 of 16 outcomes that have at least one H, and only one of them is HHHH.
Why is this rated level 4?

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