Science has proven: Tossing a coin never has an exact ratio of 50/50

European scientists conducted a study with 350,757 coin tosses, using 46 types of coins with different denominations from around the world and came to the conclusion that coin tosses never happen. 50/50 exact ratio. 48 volunteers participated in this trial.

Test results showed that, 50.8% of all coin tosses, it landed on the correct side facing up at the start of the toss. Thus, the ratio of heads is never exactly 50/50.

The study used data from coin toss simulation models developed by Diaconis, Holmes, and Montgomery since 2007. According to this model, the odds of the face facing up at the start of the toss landing are higher because That side hangs in the air longer than the lower side. This phenomenon is called 'coin bias' by scientists.

In fact, the rate of 50.8% is too small in more than 300 thousand implementations. So it's hard to get an advantage when predicting the outcome of a coin toss but over time it can lead to a slight advantage for the toss.

During the discussion, the team simulated a betting scenario where a player bets $1 on the outcome of a coin toss and performs the toss 1,000 times. If you know the upward side of the coin and bet on this side, you can win an average of 19 USD. Casinos apply this seemingly small percentage to make a profit.

To be fair in sports, when tossing a coin to decide who (or which team) will start first or gain some desired advantage, one must never reveal which side is headed in the right direction. go up.

Samuel Daniel

Update 25 October 2023