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General Science / Re: The odds of a coin landing vertically? + 51/49 theory
« on: 26/12/2016 21:05:08 »
Yes, the chances of landing on a face would be zero for the reason you described.
But there would be a chance of landing on the edge (width area). If it touches the rim (the edge of the edge) and the edge itself simulaneously. Could that not happen? I consider that as landing on the edge. Wouldn't that also be more true for wider coins?
Someone elsewhere gave me a different solution and I quote:
''the odds could be calculated by atan(h/D)/90. Where h is the thickness of the coin and D is the diameter and atan uses degrees. So for example, a penny, with a diameter of 19.05mm and thickness of 1.55 mm would have a 5.17% chance of "landing" on a edge, and a nickel at a diameter of 21.21 mm and thickness of 1.95mm would have a 5.84% chance of doing so.''
This makes sense to me. My method would be similar. It would include measuring the degrees of the width of the coin and dividing by 180, but it would fail to include spin as the previous poster stated.
But there would be a chance of landing on the edge (width area). If it touches the rim (the edge of the edge) and the edge itself simulaneously. Could that not happen? I consider that as landing on the edge. Wouldn't that also be more true for wider coins?
Someone elsewhere gave me a different solution and I quote:
''the odds could be calculated by atan(h/D)/90. Where h is the thickness of the coin and D is the diameter and atan uses degrees. So for example, a penny, with a diameter of 19.05mm and thickness of 1.55 mm would have a 5.17% chance of "landing" on a edge, and a nickel at a diameter of 21.21 mm and thickness of 1.95mm would have a 5.84% chance of doing so.''
This makes sense to me. My method would be similar. It would include measuring the degrees of the width of the coin and dividing by 180, but it would fail to include spin as the previous poster stated.