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Re:Magician-turned-mathematician uncovers bias in coin flipp... by callamdelaney on Thursday December 24, 2020 @10:19AM (#25528167)
Pretty sure it’s because the heads is heavier.
Re:Magician-turned-mathematician uncovers bias in coin flipp... by Closi on Thursday December 24, 2020 @10:35AM (#25528350)
It’s not, it’s because when flipped the number of flips the coin does in the air is not entirely random.
Re:Magician-turned-mathematician uncovers bias in coin flipp... by 0-_-0 on Thursday December 24, 2020 @10:32AM (#25528312)
I thought it was common knowledge that heads are heavier than tails. My head certainly is.
Re:Magician-turned-mathematician uncovers bias in coin flipp... by prionassembly on Thursday December 24, 2020 @10:50AM (#25528522)
HN is way too harsh on jokes, even when they’re really good - like this one.
Re:Magician-turned-mathematician uncovers bias in coin flipp... by rootusrootus on Thursday December 24, 2020 @10:57AM (#25528585)
I think good jokes can get appreciation here, but we try pretty hard to avoid the reddit-style puns and joke chains that distract from the discussion. They're entertaining sometimes... on reddit.
Re:Magician-turned-mathematician uncovers bias in coin flipp... by umanwizard on Thursday December 24, 2020 @11:11AM (#25528693)
There are plenty of other sites you can go to if you want to read chains of joke comments.
Re:Magician-turned-mathematician uncovers bias in coin flipp... by Spooky23 on Thursday December 24, 2020 @11:09AM (#25528681)
Some folks have big heads, others big tails.
Re:Magician-turned-mathematician uncovers bias in coin flipp... by morelisp on Thursday December 24, 2020 @10:45AM (#25528463)
Not only is this (somewhat obviously given the discovered bias) wrong, it’s physically impossible to bias a coin flip by weighting one side. Weighting a coin will change its center of gravity but to bias a flip you would need to impart angular momentum while it is in the air; at any constant rate of spin (again somewhat obviously once pointed out) each side will spend 50% of its time "up" and 50% "down".

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1198/000313002605

Re:Magician-turned-mathematician uncovers bias in coin flipp... by ppezaris on Thursday December 24, 2020 @12:08PM (#25529256)
There's a huge assumption in this assertion: that you catch the coin.

If you let it bounce on a table, it's much more likely to land heavy-side down. Just imagine a very thick coin one side lead the other side balsa wood. That would land lead-side down much more than 50/50 if allowed to bounce on the table.

Re:Magician-turned-mathematician uncovers bias in coin flipp... by callamdelaney on Thursday December 24, 2020 @11:33AM (#25528932)
Why does toast land butter side down so often?
Re:Magician-turned-mathematician uncovers bias in coin flipp... by morelisp on Thursday December 24, 2020 @11:39AM (#25528982)
If you flip toast rather than drop it, it doesn’t. Also, if you drop it it doesn’t really land “butter side down” but “top side down”. Just butter the bottom of your toast to solve the problem!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buttered_toast_phenomenon