Could you answer this? a coin is tossed three times. what is the probability of getting three tails in a row?

Question

the answer is 1/8 but i dont know how to get it, can anyone please help me?

Answer 1

each toss is an independent event. in general if A and B are independent events then P(A and B) = P(A) * P(B)

Here you have P(T and T and T) = P(Tail) * P(Tail) * P(tail)
= 1/2 * 1/2 * 1/2 = 1/8

this is for a fair coin.

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say you have an unfair coin that comes up tails 30% of the time.

P(three tails in a row) = 0.3 * 0.3 * 0.3 = 0.027

Answer 2

The probability of getting a tail tossing the coin once is .5, or 1 chance in 2 possible outcomes. If the coin is tossed three times, there 8 possible outcomes:

HHH
HHT
HTH
HTT
THH
THT
TTH
TTT

Thus, the probability of getting all three tails is 1 in 8, or .125.

If this or any other answer to your question helps you resolve this issue, please select a "best answer." This motivates people to help you and rewards their research in your behalf.

Cheers,
Bruce

Answer 3

Hi
well firstly, what is the probability of getting a tail - since there are only two sides to a coin it must be 1over 2 -right?
so for three tails u must need 1over 2, 1over 2, and 1over two, but what operation do you perform? Think about it this way, is your problem asking you for something OR a something else? if yes then you add the fractions if not then
Is your problem asking you for something AND something else? if yes then you multiply the number

you could also think about it this way - the probablity of getting 3 tails in pretty small right? so you want to try and find a small number. So would adding or multiplying the fractions give you a smaller number? (those are the only operations you can use on probablity fractions - u should know that!)

hope this helps and wasn't too confusing!!

Answer 4

Each time you toss a coin there are two possible outcomes, heads and tails. There is a 1 in 2 chance it will land on tails. 50%.

So supposed you toss the coin twice. There are four possibilities. Heads/Heads, Heads/Tails, Tails/Heads and Tails/Tails. Each outcome is equally as likely. So the chance of tails/tails is 1 in 4, or 1 in 2 to the 2nd power.

Toss it again and now there are EIGHT possibilities. 2 to the third power.

heads/heads/heads
heads/heads/tails
heads/tails/heads
heads/tails/tails
tails/heads/heads
tails/heads/tails
tails/tails/heads
tails/tails/tails


(Is that 8? Yup, I counted 'em.)

For four tosses, it would be 2 to the 4th power, 16 possible outcomes. I will leave listing them to you. 8^)

Answer 5

u can use a tree diagram or write down the possibilities of all scores like[ttt:tth:tht;hhh;hht;htt]and bcoz getting a tail iz 1/2 then the outcomez are [ttt] therefore the probality iz 1/2*1/2*1/2which iz 1/8

Answer 6

because each time is 50% which is 1/2....
1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2 (becuase it's tossed 3x)
when multiplying this way, do the denominators 1st
2x2= 4...4x2=8...1x1x1=1
your answer is 1/8
get it?