Solution to Problem 11


Congratulations to this week's winner

Daniel Reeves

There were three other solutions submitted. Correct solutions were also received from Kevin Bourrillion and Jeff Decker.

Answer: 1/3, 1/5, 1

a) There are two events: The selection of a coin -- resulting in the Unfair Coin, "U", or the Fair Coin, "F" -- and the flip -- resulting in heads, "H", or tails, "T", for the Fair Coin, and in one of the two heads, "H1" or "H2", for the Unfair Coin. Each of these events is considered a 50/50 proposition.

	Event1	Event2
	  F	  H
	  F	  T
	  U	  H1
	  U	  H2
So the conditional probability P(F|H) = P(F and H)/P(H) = (1/4)/(3/4) = 1/3.

b) Similarly,

	Event1	Event2	Event3
	  F	  H	  H
	  F	  H	  T
	  F	  T	  H
	  F	  T	  T
	  U	  H1	  H1
	  U	  H1	  H2
	  U	  H2	  H1
	  U	  H2	  H2
Now P(F|H,H) = P(F and H,H)/P(H,H) = (1/8)/(5/8) = 1/5.

c) It must be the fair coin. P(F|H,H,T) = 1.

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