Cheat your friends at a fair coin toss!
| Cheat your friends at a fair coin toss! | |
| Number | 131 |
| Broadcast Date | September 15th, 2010 |
| Episode Length | 15:10 |
| Hosts | Brian Brushwood |
The Setup: using a totally fair quarter, you and your friend will place bets on which sequence of coin tosses are most likely to come first... while it looks totally fair, you'll have up to a 7 to 1 advantage over them!
Revision3 Summary
The Scam: This is an old math problem called "Penney's Game". In this game, each player chooses a 3-digit sequence of coin flips... a coin is flipped over and over again, and whomever's sequence of heads and tails comes first, wins. in other words, player 1 may choose HTH (heads, tails, heads) as his sequence, while player 2 would choose HHT. when the coin is flipped, the results may be: TTHTTHHT, in which case, player 2 would win.
The Trick: you can always get an advantage over your opponent by going second, and choosing your pattern based on what they pick. The algorithm is simple: just take the first two digits of their pick, and move them to the last 2 spots in your pick. For your first digit, choose the OPPOSITE of whatever your last digit is. For example: if they choose, HHT, you'll take their first two digits (HH) and move them to the back for your pick: _HH. to choose your first digit, pick the opposite of your last digit... so you'd pick THH.
Check out the full wikipedia article for your exact odds, but if you follow these steps, you'll win MUCH more often than lose!
Brian plays quarters heads or tails with two girls and wins
Brian reveals how math and odds helps you win the game
The girls play the game and Brian guides them through it
Sponsors
GoDaddy
Get reliable; secure Web hosting-without the long-term contract. Go Daddy's hosting plans are bigger and better than ever with 99.9% uptime; free 24/7 supports and no annual commitment. And remember, you can download Go Daddy's free iPhone, Android or Blackberry app to order right from your phone, manage your current domains and more. Check out Revision3.com/GoDaddy for a list of all of the amazing GoDaddy deals from Revision3.
Netflix
Netflix delivers movies directly to your home saving you time, money and hassle. As a Netflix unlimited member you get DVDs by mail in about 1 business day. Plus, you can instantly watch thousands of TV episodes and movies streamed directly to your PC, Mac or right to your TV via a Netflix ready device like the Xbox 360, PS3, and the Nintendo Wii console. Watch as many movies as you want! Shipping is FREE and there are never any late fees or no due dates. Keep the movies as long as you like. DVDs by mail plus, instantly right to your TV. Get unlimited movies 2 ways for only $8.99 a month. As a new member and a Scam School viewer, you can get a FREE Trial membership. Go to netflix.com/scamschool and sign up NOW. Be sure to use this URL so that they know we sent you!
Next Week
Next week we're going to be learning from a memory expert, a mnemonic device that will allow you to memorize the entire Constitution in 20 minutes.
Great Quote
Fun Facts
- Tiernans Irish Pub
YouTube
Links
| Preceded by: "Olive Snifter" |
Cheat your friends at a fair coin toss! |
Followed by: "Over the Wall" |