3min chapter

In Our Time: Science cover image

Probability

In Our Time: Science

CHAPTER

The Law of Large Numbers

In the early 18th century a man called Jacob Bernoulli wrote the art of conjecturing. He established the idea of the law of large numbers over two thirds. Now he related that idea to what happens when you toss the coin lots and lots and lots of times. If I've got a fair coin and I toss it a hundred times, I expect about 50 heads and about 50 tails. And if it was biased, I might get 70 heads and 30 tails. So there's a nice pattern of numbers, one four six four one out of 16.

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