Question

I need help with a 6th grade probability question. If three fair coins are tossed at the same time, what is the probability that 1 will show heads and two will show tails?

Answer 1

Can anyone help with this?

Answer 2

yes we can do this

Answer 3

there are 8 possibilities when three coins are tossed, and since that is a fairly small number we can actually list them

h, h, h
h, h, t
h, t , h
t, h, h
h, t, t
t, h, t
t, t, h
t, t, t

of these, 3 have one have one head and two tails, so your probability is
\[\frac{3}{8}\]

Answer 4

there is a snappier way to do this, but for 6th grade this should make the most sense

Answer 5

I see that there are 4 possible outcomes if you are tossing them at the same time. That would eliminate the doubles of h,t,h and t,h,h and t,h,h and h,t,h. Right?

Answer 6

"outcomes" in this case means all the possibilities for the heads or tails on the three coins. there are 2 for each coin (heads or tails) so by the "counting principle' there are
\[2\times 2\times 2=8\] possibilities total.
they are the ones i listed. hope that helps

Answer 7

Thank you for the help. 3/8 is one of the answers.