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Magician-turned-mathematician uncovers 51% bias in coin flipping (2004)
Zoins
Posts: 34,489 ✭✭✭✭✭
Interesting article for coin folks 
2
Comments
Cool article. I thought it was going to be about people reselling sold out mint products, but it isn’t
Mr_Spud
Only made it half way through the article.........well, maybe 51%.
I wonder if it boils down to the center of weight of the coin not being at the exact center of the coin. If so, the odds could vary for each coin type!
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
I can't wait for the Super Bowl. I'm gonna kill my bookie!
Well 51% of the time
Just flip a planchet.
The method of flipping could also be relevant. If catching the coin in the air, any bias would be more likely to show itself. If the coin lands on a hard surface, not so much.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
I'll bet on it landing on its edge ....
So that guy is really a mathemagician
"Montgomery had developed the Falling Cat Theorem -- a theory that explains how a cat dropped from any angle always manages to land on its feet. Surely this expertise in angular momentum could also apply to falling coins, Diaconis thought."
So the guy thinks that how a living, breathing animal with senses that enable it to determine up from down lands would also apply to how a falling inanimate item would land?
I think he needs to think on this some more.
Well- to be honest, I haven't done exhaustive studies but I'm inclined to believe they don't.
I didn't notice anywhere in the article that he demonstrated this to anyone's satisfaction. Personally, I'm skeptical- but that's just me.
Indeed.
I cant believe I just spent the time to read that whole thing only to have learned its only 51%.
I was expecting something :unexpected.
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Interesting article...Not so much for the subject/conclusion... But for how a high school dropout went from magician to professor of mathematics.... A real study in human endeavor. Cheers, RickO
This happens all the time:
... in the Twilight Zone.
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
Coins on Television
The informal paper is here: https://statweb.stanford.edu/~susan/papers/headswithJ.pdf
And the peer-reviewed paper: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20453950, Published By: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
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Author: 3rd Edition of the SampleSlabs book, https://sampleslabs.info/