Did you know that coin flips are often used at sporting events to determine which team will possess the ball? They are also used to teach basic math concepts.
Grades: 3rd and up
Materials: a coin, pencil, paper or Flip Out for Coins worksheet (PDF)
Time: 15 minutes
Using a spare coin or our Coin Flip game, practice flipping a coin. Record the amount of times it lands on “heads” and “tails”. Also, record the total number of times you flipped the coin on your own paper or using the Flip Out for Coins worksheet (PDF).
Write the amount of times it landed on heads over the total number of flips. If the coin landed on heads 3 times out of 10 total flips, the fraction is 3 heads/10 flips, or 3/10. If you multiply this number by 100, the percentage is 30%. So, the coin landed on heads 30% of the time. Repeat the same process for tails.
Does it land on one side more than the other?
Next, try flipping the coin for 100 times. Does this change your percentage? Most likely it does. Learn why this happens by reading our Coin Flip game guide.