Question

Are the arguments in the following sentence correct or not correct? Give a reason for your answer.

If two coins are tossed simultaneously there are three possible outcomes, two heads, two tails or one of each. Therefore, for each of these outcomes, the probability is `1/3.`

Options

• Correct

• Incorrect

Answer 1

The given argument is incorrect. 

Explanation:

When two coins are tossed, the possible outcomes are (H, H), (H, T), (T, H), and (T, T). It can be observed that there can be one of each in two possible ways  (H, T), (T, H).

Therefore, the probability of getting two heads is `1/4`, the probability of getting two tails is `1/4`

And probability of getting one of each is =` 1/2`

It can be observed that for each outcome, the probability is not `1/3.`