Answer:
0.03125 = 3.125% probability that the person flipped 5 heads
Step-by-step explanation:
For each coin, there are only two possible outcomes. Either it was heads, or it was tails. The result of a coin toss is independent of other coin tosses. So we use the binomial probability distribution to solve this question.
Binomial probability distribution
The binomial probability is the probability of exactly x successes on n repeated trials, and X can only have two outcomes.
[tex]P(X = x) = C_{n,x}.p^{x}.(1-p)^{n-x}[/tex]
In which [tex]C_{n,x}[/tex] is the number of different combinations of x objects from a set of n elements, given by the following formula.
[tex]C_{n,x} = \frac{n!}{x!(n-x)!}[/tex]
And p is the probability of X happening.
Five coins:
This means that n = 5.
Fair coin:
Equally as likely to be heads or tails, so p = 0.5.
What is the probability that the person flipped 5 heads?
This is P(X = 5).
[tex]P(X = x) = C_{n,x}.p^{x}.(1-p)^{n-x}[/tex]
[tex]P(X = 5) = C_{5,5}.(0.5)^{5}.(0.5)^{0} = 0.03125[/tex]
0.03125 = 3.125% probability that the person flipped 5 heads
