{"id":90985,"date":"2025-06-01T10:42:33","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T10:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/?p=90985"},"modified":"2025-06-01T10:42:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T10:42:33","slug":"a-fair-coin-is-tossed-three-times-and-the-outcomes-are-noted-what-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/a-fair-coin-is-tossed-three-times-and-the-outcomes-are-noted-what-is\/","title":{"rendered":"A fair coin is tossed three times and the outcomes are noted. What is"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A fair coin is tossed three times and the outcomes are noted. What is the probability of getting exactly two heads ?<\/p>\n<p>[amp_mcq option1=&#8221;\\(\\frac{2}{3}\\)&#8221; option2=&#8221;\\(\\frac{1}{2}\\)&#8221; option3=&#8221;\\(\\frac{5}{8}\\)&#8221; option4=&#8221;\\(\\frac{3}{8}\\)&#8221; correct=&#8221;option4&#8243;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"psc-box-pyq-exam-year-detail\">\n<div class=\"pyq-exam\">\n<div class=\"psc-heading\">This question was previously asked in<\/div>\n<div class=\"psc-title line-ellipsis\">UPSC CAPF &#8211; 2024<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pyq-exam-psc-buttons\"><a href=\"\/pyq\/pyq-upsc-capf-2024.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"psc-pdf-button\" rel=\"noopener\">Download PDF<\/a><a href=\"\/pyq-upsc-capf-2024\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"psc-attempt-button\" rel=\"noopener\">Attempt Online<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section id=\"pyq-correct-answer\">\nThe correct option is D.<br \/>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"pyq-key-points\">\nA fair coin is tossed three times.<br \/>\nEach toss has two possible outcomes: Heads (H) or Tails (T).<br \/>\nSince the tosses are independent, the total number of possible outcomes for three tosses is 2 * 2 * 2 = 2\u00b3 = 8.<br \/>\nThe sample space (set of all possible outcomes) is:<br \/>\nHHH, HHT, HTH, THH, HTT, THT, TTH, TTT.<\/p>\n<p>We are looking for the probability of getting exactly two heads.<br \/>\nThe outcomes with exactly two heads are:<br \/>\nHHT<br \/>\nHTH<br \/>\nTHH<br \/>\nThere are 3 favourable outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>The probability of an event is defined as (Number of favourable outcomes) \/ (Total number of possible outcomes).<br \/>\nProbability of getting exactly two heads = (Number of outcomes with exactly two heads) \/ (Total number of outcomes)<br \/>\nProbability = 3 \/ 8.<br \/>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"pyq-additional-information\">\nFor n independent coin tosses, the probability of getting exactly k heads can be calculated using the binomial probability formula: P(X=k) = C(n, k) * p^k * (1-p)^(n-k), where n is the number of trials, k is the number of successes (heads), p is the probability of success on a single trial (probability of getting a head), and C(n, k) is the binomial coefficient (n choose k).<br \/>\nIn this case, n=3 (three tosses), k=2 (exactly two heads), and p=0.5 (probability of getting a head with a fair coin).<br \/>\nP(X=2) = C(3, 2) * (0.5)\u00b2 * (1-0.5)\u00b3\u207b\u00b2<br \/>\nP(X=2) = C(3, 2) * (0.5)\u00b2 * (0.5)\u00b9<br \/>\nP(X=2) = C(3, 2) * (0.5)\u00b3<br \/>\nC(3, 2) = 3! \/ (2! * (3-2)!) = 3! \/ (2! * 1!) = (3 * 2 * 1) \/ ((2 * 1) * 1) = 3.<br \/>\n(0.5)\u00b3 = 0.5 * 0.5 * 0.5 = 0.125 = 1\/8.<br \/>\nP(X=2) = 3 * (1\/8) = 3\/8.<br \/>\nThis confirms the result obtained by listing the outcomes.<br \/>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A fair coin is tossed three times and the outcomes are noted. What is the probability of getting exactly two heads ? [amp_mcq option1=&#8221;\\(\\frac{2}{3}\\)&#8221; option2=&#8221;\\(\\frac{1}{2}\\)&#8221; option3=&#8221;\\(\\frac{5}{8}\\)&#8221; option4=&#8221;\\(\\frac{3}{8}\\)&#8221; correct=&#8221;option4&#8243;] This question was previously asked in UPSC CAPF &#8211; 2024 Download PDFAttempt Online The correct option is D. A fair coin is tossed three times. Each toss &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"A fair coin is tossed three times and the outcomes are noted. What is\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/a-fair-coin-is-tossed-three-times-and-the-outcomes-are-noted-what-is\/#more-90985\">Detailed Solution<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">A fair coin is tossed three times and the outcomes are noted. What is<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1085],"tags":[1103,1102],"class_list":["post-90985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-upsc-capf","tag-1103","tag-quantitative-aptitude-and-reasoning","no-featured-image-padding"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.2 (Yoast SEO v23.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A fair coin is tossed three times and the outcomes are noted. What is<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The correct option is D. A fair coin is tossed three times. Each toss has two possible outcomes: Heads (H) or Tails (T). Since the tosses are independent, the total number of possible outcomes for three tosses is 2 * 2 * 2 = 2\u00b3 = 8. The sample space (set of all possible outcomes) is: HHH, HHT, HTH, THH, HTT, THT, TTH, TTT. We are looking for the probability of getting exactly two heads. The outcomes with exactly two heads are: HHT HTH THH There are 3 favourable outcomes. The probability of an event is defined as (Number of favourable outcomes) \/ (Total number of possible outcomes). Probability of getting exactly two heads = (Number of outcomes with exactly two heads) \/ (Total number of outcomes) Probability = 3 \/ 8.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/a-fair-coin-is-tossed-three-times-and-the-outcomes-are-noted-what-is\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A fair coin is tossed three times and the outcomes are noted. What is\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The correct option is D. A fair coin is tossed three times. Each toss has two possible outcomes: Heads (H) or Tails (T). Since the tosses are independent, the total number of possible outcomes for three tosses is 2 * 2 * 2 = 2\u00b3 = 8. The sample space (set of all possible outcomes) is: HHH, HHT, HTH, THH, HTT, THT, TTH, TTT. We are looking for the probability of getting exactly two heads. The outcomes with exactly two heads are: HHT HTH THH There are 3 favourable outcomes. The probability of an event is defined as (Number of favourable outcomes) \/ (Total number of possible outcomes). Probability of getting exactly two heads = (Number of outcomes with exactly two heads) \/ (Total number of outcomes) Probability = 3 \/ 8.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/a-fair-coin-is-tossed-three-times-and-the-outcomes-are-noted-what-is\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MCQ and Quiz for Exams\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-01T10:42:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A fair coin is tossed three times and the outcomes are noted. What is","description":"The correct option is D. A fair coin is tossed three times. Each toss has two possible outcomes: Heads (H) or Tails (T). Since the tosses are independent, the total number of possible outcomes for three tosses is 2 * 2 * 2 = 2\u00b3 = 8. The sample space (set of all possible outcomes) is: HHH, HHT, HTH, THH, HTT, THT, TTH, TTT. We are looking for the probability of getting exactly two heads. The outcomes with exactly two heads are: HHT HTH THH There are 3 favourable outcomes. The probability of an event is defined as (Number of favourable outcomes) \/ (Total number of possible outcomes). Probability of getting exactly two heads = (Number of outcomes with exactly two heads) \/ (Total number of outcomes) Probability = 3 \/ 8.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/a-fair-coin-is-tossed-three-times-and-the-outcomes-are-noted-what-is\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A fair coin is tossed three times and the outcomes are noted. What is","og_description":"The correct option is D. A fair coin is tossed three times. Each toss has two possible outcomes: Heads (H) or Tails (T). Since the tosses are independent, the total number of possible outcomes for three tosses is 2 * 2 * 2 = 2\u00b3 = 8. The sample space (set of all possible outcomes) is: HHH, HHT, HTH, THH, HTT, THT, TTH, TTT. We are looking for the probability of getting exactly two heads. The outcomes with exactly two heads are: HHT HTH THH There are 3 favourable outcomes. The probability of an event is defined as (Number of favourable outcomes) \/ (Total number of possible outcomes). Probability of getting exactly two heads = (Number of outcomes with exactly two heads) \/ (Total number of outcomes) Probability = 3 \/ 8.","og_url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/a-fair-coin-is-tossed-three-times-and-the-outcomes-are-noted-what-is\/","og_site_name":"MCQ and Quiz for Exams","article_published_time":"2025-06-01T10:42:33+00:00","author":"rawan239","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"rawan239","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/a-fair-coin-is-tossed-three-times-and-the-outcomes-are-noted-what-is\/","url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/a-fair-coin-is-tossed-three-times-and-the-outcomes-are-noted-what-is\/","name":"A fair coin is tossed three times and the outcomes are noted. What is","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-06-01T10:42:33+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-01T10:42:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/5807dafeb27d2ec82344d6cbd6c3d209"},"description":"The correct option is D. A fair coin is tossed three times. Each toss has two possible outcomes: Heads (H) or Tails (T). Since the tosses are independent, the total number of possible outcomes for three tosses is 2 * 2 * 2 = 2\u00b3 = 8. The sample space (set of all possible outcomes) is: HHH, HHT, HTH, THH, HTT, THT, TTH, TTT. We are looking for the probability of getting exactly two heads. The outcomes with exactly two heads are: HHT HTH THH There are 3 favourable outcomes. The probability of an event is defined as (Number of favourable outcomes) \/ (Total number of possible outcomes). Probability of getting exactly two heads = (Number of outcomes with exactly two heads) \/ (Total number of outcomes) Probability = 3 \/ 8.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/a-fair-coin-is-tossed-three-times-and-the-outcomes-are-noted-what-is\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/a-fair-coin-is-tossed-three-times-and-the-outcomes-are-noted-what-is\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/a-fair-coin-is-tossed-three-times-and-the-outcomes-are-noted-what-is\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UPSC CAPF","item":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/category\/upsc-capf\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"A fair coin is tossed three times and the outcomes are noted. What is"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#website","url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/","name":"MCQ and Quiz for Exams","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/5807dafeb27d2ec82344d6cbd6c3d209","name":"rawan239","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/761a7274f9cce048fa5b921221e7934820d74514df93ef195a9d22af0c1c9001?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/761a7274f9cce048fa5b921221e7934820d74514df93ef195a9d22af0c1c9001?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"rawan239"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com"],"url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/author\/rawan239\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90985\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}