If you flip a fair coin 7 times, what is the probability of each of the following?

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    Video Transcript

    Alright. A coin is flipped seven times. What are the possible outcomes? This is how many possible outcomes there are. The first flip could have heads or tails. Alright. You could have tails or heads on the first flip. You could have tails or heads after the next flip. The next flip tails or heads. It's tails. From here, tails and tails. Towels, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, And yes, tails heads. That's 1234 flips. There are ways to go. So tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails. Alright, so you know where I'm going with this. You can have tails, heads, or a mix in between. How many possible outcomes are there? This is the multiplication property. There are two possibilities. So two turns 6. I don't. 1,224, 1, 3456788. This is the first flip. The fourth flip is going to have 16 outcomes. There are 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 characters. It's going to be 32 by the 5th flip. The 6th flip is going to be 64. The 7th flip. 128. 128 total outcomes. How many possible outcomes is the answer? There are 128 possible outcomes. How many outcomes have more tails than heads? There were 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Okay. I think about 50 because it's going to be 5050 and 64 are going to have more tails than heads. How many possible outcomes have three heads? If I know the first one has to be had, the second one has to be heads, the third one has to be heads, and the rest of them have to be tails. So tails heads. There are heads. Alex tails, tails, tails evidence. I was training. Alright, tails, heads, stop, tails, tails, heads, heads, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, tails, What combination will this be? Maybe it's backwards, where it's three combination 5. Maybe it should be seven positions. Three objects? Yes. Alright. There are 35 possible outcomes. That's going to be seven combination four, right? The next is 35 as well.

    Jordan M.

    asked • 06/28/15

    I need to know how to figure out the probability of getting heads a single time after flipping a coin seven times.

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    2 Answers By Expert Tutors

    If you flip a fair coin 7 times, what is the probability of each of the following?

    if you flip a coin once, there are 2 possibilities, H or T (2^1)

    if you flip a coin twice, there are 4 possibilities, HH,HT,TH,TT (2^2=4)

    three times, 2^3=8

    4 times, 2^4=16

    5 times, 2^5=32

    6 times, 2^6=64

    7 times, 2^7=128 total possibilities; this is the denominator

    how many ways can the event occur ? 7 ways

    HTTTTTT

    THTTTTT

    TTHTTTT

    TTTHTTT

    TTTTHTT

    TTTTTHT

    TTTTTTH

    the probability is 7/128

    If you flip a fair coin 7 times, what is the probability of each of the following?

    David W.

    tutor

    Note: Including the words "single time" and "after" confuse this problem somewhat.  With a "fair" coin, the probability of getting heads on a "single" flip at any time is 1/2.  However, the probability of getting exactly one heads out of seven flips is different (and the solution is given).

    If you flip a fair coin 7 times, what is the probability of each of the following?

    This problem is of the type that can be solved with the aid of the binomial distribution.

    Since the probability of getting a head on a single flip is 1/2  as is the probability of getting a tail,   the binomial distribution gives  the desired probability as

    7C1 (1/2)7   =   7 /128.  

    7C1  is the combinatorial coefficient " seven choose 1".    The combinatorial coefficients can be obtained from a graphing calculator such as the TI-84, or from Pascal's triangle.  

    The formal expression for   7C1  is  7!/[ (7-1)! 1! ]

    where the ! denotes factorial.

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    What is the probability of flipping a coin 7 times?

    With seven flips, we have 128 possibilities, with only one of these possibilities being a successful one (T-T-T-T-T-T-T). Thus, the probability of flipping seven tails in a row in seven flips is 1 in 128.

    What is the probability of getting 7 heads in a row when flipping a coin?

    What are the odds of getting heads 7 times in a row in 40 tries of flipping a coin? Save this question. Show activity on this post. I know if you flip a coin 7 times, the odds of getting 7 heads in a row is 1 in 27 or 1 in 128.

    When flipping a fair coin 7 times what is the probability that at least 4 heads appear?

    Hence, the probability of flipping a coin 7 times and getting heads 4 times is 35/128.

    What is the probability of flipping a coin 7 times and getting heads 6 times?

    Hence, the probability of flipping a coin 7 times and getting heads 6 times is 7/128.