Question for the math guys

[kingstalker]

How do you guys figure out the odds(using a pocket calculator) of a series of events occuring, say the odds of a coin landing on heads 3 times in a row?

[uuDevil]

The math guys don't come by as regularly as you might like. I'm not that good with a calculator myself /images/graemlins/tongue.gif, but the probability of independant events like coin flips occuring is just the product of the probabilities. So for 3 in a row P(3 heads)=1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2= 1/8. These are odds of 7:1 against.

If 1 head has already occurred, then you only need two more in a row so the probability is 1/2 x 1/2= 1/4, or odds of 3:1.

Hope that helps. Don't worry, if I got it wrong someone will show up to correct me sooner or later. /images/graemlins/grin.gif