Step by step
The question
Question: A coin is flipped 60 times and lands heads 33 times.
Find the experimental probability of heads.
1 Times it happened over times tried
It happened 33 times out of 60 flips.
So the experimental probability is 33/60.
Experimental probability comes from what really happened in the experiment.
To make it simpler: What goes into 33 and 60?
We list the numbers that go into each.
Into 33: 1, 3, 11, 33.
Into 60: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60.
3 is the biggest one in both lists.
We divide the top and the bottom by 3.
So it is 11/20.
As a percent: 20 times 5 is 100.
11 times 5 is 55.
So it is 55%.
2 Compare with the theory
In theory, a coin has 2 sides, so heads is 1 out of 2: 50%.
Careful!
That is the theory.
The question asks what really happened: 55%.
55% is close to 50%.
With more flips, it usually gets even closer.
3 Check
Let's check: 55% of 60 flips should be the 33 times.
55% of 60 is 33.
So the answer is right!
Let's look back.
First: times it happened over times tried.
Then: compare with the theory.
Last: check.