Chance experiments

Predict, test, compare.

The coin toss

Before a cricket match, captains toss a coin. Heads or tails: an even chance. But what happens in 20 tosses? Let us experiment.

Write a prediction before you start. With an even chance, we expect about half and half. But results can vary.

Each toss is a trial. Record each one with a tally. These results are not exactly 10 and 10.

With few trials, results can be far from expected. With many trials, they get closer to half. This is why scientists repeat experiments.