Q. What is the probability of getting six heads when you toss a coin ten times? Write your answer as a percentage, and round to the nearest hundredth.
Understand the problem: Understand the problem.We need to calculate the probability of getting exactly six heads when a fair coin is tossed ten times. This is a binomial probability problem, where the number of trials is 10, the number of successes (heads) we want is 6, and the probability of success on a single trial (getting a head on a single coin toss) is 0.5.
Use the binomial probability formula: Use the binomial probability formula.The binomial probability formula is P(X=k)=(kn)⋅pk⋅(1−p)n−k, where P(X=k) is the probability of k successes in n trials, (kn) is the binomial coefficient, p is the probability of success on a single trial, and (1−p) is the probability of failure on a single trial.
Calculate the binomial coefficient: Calculate the binomial coefficient (6)(10).The binomial coefficient (k)(n) is calculated as k!⋅(n−k)!n!, where n! is the factorial of n.(6)(10) = 6!⋅(10−6)!10! = 6!⋅4!10! = 4⋅3⋅2⋅110⋅9⋅8⋅7 = 210.
Calculate the probability of getting exactly six heads: Calculate the probability of getting exactly six heads.Using the binomial probability formula:P(X=6)=(610)×(0.5)6×(0.5)10−6P(X=6)=210×(0.5)6×(0.5)4P(X=6)=210×(0.5)10P(X=6)=210×(1/1024)P(X=6)=210/1024P(X=6)=0.205078125
Convert the probability to a percentage and round: Convert the probability to a percentage and round to the nearest hundredth.To convert to a percentage, we multiply by 100.Percentage = 0.205078125×100Percentage ≈20.51%
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