The old trick in the book

A has n+1 fair coins and B has n fair coins.If they toss all the coins , what is the probability that A gets more heads than B ?

12 Answers

11
Anirudh Narayanan ·

1/3?

1
SatyaPriya Ojha ·

No...give some more try ..

1
Pavithra Ramamoorthy ·

1/n.............

1
Pavithra Ramamoorthy ·

1/n.............

1
SatyaPriya Ojha ·

Nope...will give u a hint...think of the complement of P.

62
Lokesh Verma ·

It isnt as tough guys.. just think it a bit!

24
eureka123 ·

here it is................(plzz forgive me if it goes horribly wrong)
remove one coin from A's set.
now compare the first no. of heads in first n coins of A and n coins of B.
we get 3 cases(or outcomes)
1)A's n coins have more heads than B's n coins
2)A's n coins have equal no. of heads as B's n coins
3)B's n coins have more heads than A's n coins

we can see by symmetry that P(1)=P(3)
let P(1)=a=P(3) and P(2)=b

=> 2a+b=1

if case1 arises then (n+1)th coin will make no difference and A will surely get more heads.
if case3 arises then also (n+1)th coin will not make any diff. and A will get less heads when compared to B
but real thing happens in case 2
If (n+1)th coin is head(with prob 1/2) then A will have more heads than B.
=> Prob of A having more heads inc. by b/2
=> Total prob. of A having more heads =a+b/2=a+(1-2a)/2
=>a+0.5-a
=>0.5

62
Lokesh Verma ·

how about this simpler trick..

the probability of getting more heads = probability of having more tails!

hence the prob of getting more heads=prob of getting less no of heads

there cant be equal no of heads and tails..

hence.. prob=1/2!!!

so simple :P

62
Lokesh Verma ·

eureka said it in mathematics..

I said it in english :)

33
Abhishek Priyam ·

A and B have same chances for n tosses.... all depends on (n+1)th toss... so if A gets head there, he gets more heads so prob of getting head in (n+1)th toss =1/2

24
eureka123 ·

yup.........

1
gagar.iitk ·

@ nishant the statement

the prob of getting more heads=prob of getting less no of heads
is this statement really true ??????
my statement

A having more heads =A having less or equal heads

Your Answer

Close [X]