You flip a coin $10$ times. How many ways can you get at least $7$ heads?

The name of the pictureThe name of the pictureThe name of the pictureClash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP











up vote
3
down vote

favorite
1













You flip a coin $10$ times. How many ways can you get at least $7$ heads?




My answer.



$$binom1010+ binom109cdotbinom101 + binom108cdotbinom102+binom107cdotbinom103$$



You have $10$ Heads and $0$ tails $+$ $9$ Heads $cdot$ $1$ Tail $+$ $8$ Heads $cdot$ $2$ tails $+$ $7$ Heads $cdot$ $3$ tails.



The answer is $176$ though.







share|cite|improve this question


















  • 5




    Your method of picking 8 heads and 2 tails does not make use of the fact that a coin is heads or tails, but not both or neither. Once you pick the 8 heads, the remaining coins are tails perforce, there is no picking still to do.
    – vadim123
    Aug 9 at 23:05














up vote
3
down vote

favorite
1













You flip a coin $10$ times. How many ways can you get at least $7$ heads?




My answer.



$$binom1010+ binom109cdotbinom101 + binom108cdotbinom102+binom107cdotbinom103$$



You have $10$ Heads and $0$ tails $+$ $9$ Heads $cdot$ $1$ Tail $+$ $8$ Heads $cdot$ $2$ tails $+$ $7$ Heads $cdot$ $3$ tails.



The answer is $176$ though.







share|cite|improve this question


















  • 5




    Your method of picking 8 heads and 2 tails does not make use of the fact that a coin is heads or tails, but not both or neither. Once you pick the 8 heads, the remaining coins are tails perforce, there is no picking still to do.
    – vadim123
    Aug 9 at 23:05












up vote
3
down vote

favorite
1









up vote
3
down vote

favorite
1






1






You flip a coin $10$ times. How many ways can you get at least $7$ heads?




My answer.



$$binom1010+ binom109cdotbinom101 + binom108cdotbinom102+binom107cdotbinom103$$



You have $10$ Heads and $0$ tails $+$ $9$ Heads $cdot$ $1$ Tail $+$ $8$ Heads $cdot$ $2$ tails $+$ $7$ Heads $cdot$ $3$ tails.



The answer is $176$ though.







share|cite|improve this question















You flip a coin $10$ times. How many ways can you get at least $7$ heads?




My answer.



$$binom1010+ binom109cdotbinom101 + binom108cdotbinom102+binom107cdotbinom103$$



You have $10$ Heads and $0$ tails $+$ $9$ Heads $cdot$ $1$ Tail $+$ $8$ Heads $cdot$ $2$ tails $+$ $7$ Heads $cdot$ $3$ tails.



The answer is $176$ though.









share|cite|improve this question













share|cite|improve this question




share|cite|improve this question








edited Aug 10 at 10:00









TheSimpliFire

10.5k62053




10.5k62053










asked Aug 9 at 23:01









user9995331

1114




1114







  • 5




    Your method of picking 8 heads and 2 tails does not make use of the fact that a coin is heads or tails, but not both or neither. Once you pick the 8 heads, the remaining coins are tails perforce, there is no picking still to do.
    – vadim123
    Aug 9 at 23:05












  • 5




    Your method of picking 8 heads and 2 tails does not make use of the fact that a coin is heads or tails, but not both or neither. Once you pick the 8 heads, the remaining coins are tails perforce, there is no picking still to do.
    – vadim123
    Aug 9 at 23:05







5




5




Your method of picking 8 heads and 2 tails does not make use of the fact that a coin is heads or tails, but not both or neither. Once you pick the 8 heads, the remaining coins are tails perforce, there is no picking still to do.
– vadim123
Aug 9 at 23:05




Your method of picking 8 heads and 2 tails does not make use of the fact that a coin is heads or tails, but not both or neither. Once you pick the 8 heads, the remaining coins are tails perforce, there is no picking still to do.
– vadim123
Aug 9 at 23:05










6 Answers
6






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
6
down vote



accepted










Since we need at least $7$ heads from $10$ trails



First we get $7$ heads and $3$ tails in $dbinom107$



Second we get $8$ heads and $2$ tails in $dbinom108$



Third we get $9$ heads and $1$ tail in $dbinom109$



Fourth we $10$ heads and $0$ tails in $dbinom1010$



Now total number of permutations $=dbinom107+dbinom108+dbinom109+dbinom1010=176$






share|cite|improve this answer





























    up vote
    5
    down vote













    Let's look at $binom107 cdot binom103$. This counts the number of ways you can



    • assign the label "heads" to seven coins, and

    • assign the label "tails" to three coins.

    This includes, for example, choosing the label the first seven coins as "heads" and the first three coins as "tails".



    This choice of labels cannot possibly describe a result of flipping a coin ten times, because three coins have both labels and three coins have neither label.




    The simple fix is to recognize that all you need to do is to count the number of ways you can



    • assign the label "heads" to seven coins

    Once you've done this, you can then proceed to label the three remaining coins as "tails".



    In this system, the possible choices for labels are in bijective correspondence with the possible ways to get seven heads in ten coin flips.






    share|cite|improve this answer




















    • I have a fairly basic understanding or combinations and permutations. I memorized the formulas and kind of know when to differentiate the two, but don't really understand how and why you would multiply certain values like this. When you say I you want to pick 7 heads from 10 possible (coins/heads?) and get 3 tails. I thought that meant the data was 2-dimensional? and must be multiplied. Say for example is was a 3 sided die. You wanted to get 1 side 7 times. Would the answer be what I wrote then? I added another possibility to the data.
      – user9995331
      Aug 9 at 23:15

















    up vote
    1
    down vote













    the combinations notation $10choose 7 = frac 10!7!3!$ accounts for the fact that if you have 7 heads you also have 3 non-heads. $10choose 710choose 3$ is effectively squaring the value that you need for that term. Similar for the other terms.






    share|cite|improve this answer



























      up vote
      1
      down vote













      The problem is that once you have chosen which $9 $ of the ten flips are going to be heads, there's is no choice remaining as to which one is a tail. It has to be the last one not selected.



      Hence the formula starts with $ldots +10choose 9 $, times nothing (or times $1choose 1 $ if you will).






      share|cite|improve this answer



























        up vote
        1
        down vote













        The number of sequences of ten tosses that contain exactly seven heads and three tails is
        $$binom107binom33 = binom107$$
        since there are $binom107$ ways to select exactly seven of the ten positions for the heads and $binom33$ ways to select all three of the remaining three positions for the tails.



        By similar reasoning, the number of sequences of ten tosses that contain exactly $k$ heads and $10 - k$ tails is

        $$binom10kbinom10 - k10 - k = binom10k$$
        since there are $binom10k$ ways to select exactly $k$ of the ten positions in the sequence for the heads and $binom10 - k10 - k$ to select all $10 - k$ of the remaining $10 - k$ positions for the tails.



        Hence, the number of sequences of ten coin tosses in which at least seven heads occur is
        beginalign*
        sum_k = 7^10 binom10kbinom10 - k10 - k & = sum_k = 7^10 binom10k\
        & = binom107 + binom108 + binom109 + binom1010\
        & = 120 + 45 + 10 + 1\
        & = 176
        endalign*



        In your attempt, when you calculated the number of ways of selecting seven heads and three tails, you first selected seven of the ten positions for the heads and then selected three of the ten positions for the tails without taking into account that the three tails can only occupy the $10 - 7 = 3$ positions not already occupied by heads. That means you allowed heads and tails to occupy the same positions in the sequence, a physical impossibility.






        share|cite|improve this answer



























          up vote
          0
          down vote













          Consider thinking 10 flipping of a coin and getting n<10 heads as putting n black balls(assume tails are white balls) in 10 boxes...
          Now,
          the question transforms to how many ways can you put at least 7 black balls in 10 boxes?



          The answer is 10c10+10c9+10c8+10c7=176
          . The permutation of white balls doesn't matter as interchanging the box no of white balls counts as a same result.....






          share|cite|improve this answer






















            Your Answer




            StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function ()
            return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function ()
            StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix)
            StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
            );
            );
            , "mathjax-editing");

            StackExchange.ready(function()
            var channelOptions =
            tags: "".split(" "),
            id: "69"
            ;
            initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

            StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
            // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
            if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
            StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
            createEditor();
            );

            else
            createEditor();

            );

            function createEditor()
            StackExchange.prepareEditor(
            heartbeatType: 'answer',
            convertImagesToLinks: true,
            noModals: false,
            showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
            reputationToPostImages: 10,
            bindNavPrevention: true,
            postfix: "",
            noCode: true, onDemand: true,
            discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
            ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
            );



            );













             

            draft saved


            draft discarded


















            StackExchange.ready(
            function ()
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f2877804%2fyou-flip-a-coin-10-times-how-many-ways-can-you-get-at-least-7-heads%23new-answer', 'question_page');

            );

            Post as a guest






























            6 Answers
            6






            active

            oldest

            votes








            6 Answers
            6






            active

            oldest

            votes









            active

            oldest

            votes






            active

            oldest

            votes








            up vote
            6
            down vote



            accepted










            Since we need at least $7$ heads from $10$ trails



            First we get $7$ heads and $3$ tails in $dbinom107$



            Second we get $8$ heads and $2$ tails in $dbinom108$



            Third we get $9$ heads and $1$ tail in $dbinom109$



            Fourth we $10$ heads and $0$ tails in $dbinom1010$



            Now total number of permutations $=dbinom107+dbinom108+dbinom109+dbinom1010=176$






            share|cite|improve this answer


























              up vote
              6
              down vote



              accepted










              Since we need at least $7$ heads from $10$ trails



              First we get $7$ heads and $3$ tails in $dbinom107$



              Second we get $8$ heads and $2$ tails in $dbinom108$



              Third we get $9$ heads and $1$ tail in $dbinom109$



              Fourth we $10$ heads and $0$ tails in $dbinom1010$



              Now total number of permutations $=dbinom107+dbinom108+dbinom109+dbinom1010=176$






              share|cite|improve this answer
























                up vote
                6
                down vote



                accepted







                up vote
                6
                down vote



                accepted






                Since we need at least $7$ heads from $10$ trails



                First we get $7$ heads and $3$ tails in $dbinom107$



                Second we get $8$ heads and $2$ tails in $dbinom108$



                Third we get $9$ heads and $1$ tail in $dbinom109$



                Fourth we $10$ heads and $0$ tails in $dbinom1010$



                Now total number of permutations $=dbinom107+dbinom108+dbinom109+dbinom1010=176$






                share|cite|improve this answer














                Since we need at least $7$ heads from $10$ trails



                First we get $7$ heads and $3$ tails in $dbinom107$



                Second we get $8$ heads and $2$ tails in $dbinom108$



                Third we get $9$ heads and $1$ tail in $dbinom109$



                Fourth we $10$ heads and $0$ tails in $dbinom1010$



                Now total number of permutations $=dbinom107+dbinom108+dbinom109+dbinom1010=176$







                share|cite|improve this answer














                share|cite|improve this answer



                share|cite|improve this answer








                edited Aug 9 at 23:18

























                answered Aug 9 at 23:02









                Key Flex

                1




                1




















                    up vote
                    5
                    down vote













                    Let's look at $binom107 cdot binom103$. This counts the number of ways you can



                    • assign the label "heads" to seven coins, and

                    • assign the label "tails" to three coins.

                    This includes, for example, choosing the label the first seven coins as "heads" and the first three coins as "tails".



                    This choice of labels cannot possibly describe a result of flipping a coin ten times, because three coins have both labels and three coins have neither label.




                    The simple fix is to recognize that all you need to do is to count the number of ways you can



                    • assign the label "heads" to seven coins

                    Once you've done this, you can then proceed to label the three remaining coins as "tails".



                    In this system, the possible choices for labels are in bijective correspondence with the possible ways to get seven heads in ten coin flips.






                    share|cite|improve this answer




















                    • I have a fairly basic understanding or combinations and permutations. I memorized the formulas and kind of know when to differentiate the two, but don't really understand how and why you would multiply certain values like this. When you say I you want to pick 7 heads from 10 possible (coins/heads?) and get 3 tails. I thought that meant the data was 2-dimensional? and must be multiplied. Say for example is was a 3 sided die. You wanted to get 1 side 7 times. Would the answer be what I wrote then? I added another possibility to the data.
                      – user9995331
                      Aug 9 at 23:15














                    up vote
                    5
                    down vote













                    Let's look at $binom107 cdot binom103$. This counts the number of ways you can



                    • assign the label "heads" to seven coins, and

                    • assign the label "tails" to three coins.

                    This includes, for example, choosing the label the first seven coins as "heads" and the first three coins as "tails".



                    This choice of labels cannot possibly describe a result of flipping a coin ten times, because three coins have both labels and three coins have neither label.




                    The simple fix is to recognize that all you need to do is to count the number of ways you can



                    • assign the label "heads" to seven coins

                    Once you've done this, you can then proceed to label the three remaining coins as "tails".



                    In this system, the possible choices for labels are in bijective correspondence with the possible ways to get seven heads in ten coin flips.






                    share|cite|improve this answer




















                    • I have a fairly basic understanding or combinations and permutations. I memorized the formulas and kind of know when to differentiate the two, but don't really understand how and why you would multiply certain values like this. When you say I you want to pick 7 heads from 10 possible (coins/heads?) and get 3 tails. I thought that meant the data was 2-dimensional? and must be multiplied. Say for example is was a 3 sided die. You wanted to get 1 side 7 times. Would the answer be what I wrote then? I added another possibility to the data.
                      – user9995331
                      Aug 9 at 23:15












                    up vote
                    5
                    down vote










                    up vote
                    5
                    down vote









                    Let's look at $binom107 cdot binom103$. This counts the number of ways you can



                    • assign the label "heads" to seven coins, and

                    • assign the label "tails" to three coins.

                    This includes, for example, choosing the label the first seven coins as "heads" and the first three coins as "tails".



                    This choice of labels cannot possibly describe a result of flipping a coin ten times, because three coins have both labels and three coins have neither label.




                    The simple fix is to recognize that all you need to do is to count the number of ways you can



                    • assign the label "heads" to seven coins

                    Once you've done this, you can then proceed to label the three remaining coins as "tails".



                    In this system, the possible choices for labels are in bijective correspondence with the possible ways to get seven heads in ten coin flips.






                    share|cite|improve this answer












                    Let's look at $binom107 cdot binom103$. This counts the number of ways you can



                    • assign the label "heads" to seven coins, and

                    • assign the label "tails" to three coins.

                    This includes, for example, choosing the label the first seven coins as "heads" and the first three coins as "tails".



                    This choice of labels cannot possibly describe a result of flipping a coin ten times, because three coins have both labels and three coins have neither label.




                    The simple fix is to recognize that all you need to do is to count the number of ways you can



                    • assign the label "heads" to seven coins

                    Once you've done this, you can then proceed to label the three remaining coins as "tails".



                    In this system, the possible choices for labels are in bijective correspondence with the possible ways to get seven heads in ten coin flips.







                    share|cite|improve this answer












                    share|cite|improve this answer



                    share|cite|improve this answer










                    answered Aug 9 at 23:06









                    Hurkyl

                    109k9113254




                    109k9113254











                    • I have a fairly basic understanding or combinations and permutations. I memorized the formulas and kind of know when to differentiate the two, but don't really understand how and why you would multiply certain values like this. When you say I you want to pick 7 heads from 10 possible (coins/heads?) and get 3 tails. I thought that meant the data was 2-dimensional? and must be multiplied. Say for example is was a 3 sided die. You wanted to get 1 side 7 times. Would the answer be what I wrote then? I added another possibility to the data.
                      – user9995331
                      Aug 9 at 23:15
















                    • I have a fairly basic understanding or combinations and permutations. I memorized the formulas and kind of know when to differentiate the two, but don't really understand how and why you would multiply certain values like this. When you say I you want to pick 7 heads from 10 possible (coins/heads?) and get 3 tails. I thought that meant the data was 2-dimensional? and must be multiplied. Say for example is was a 3 sided die. You wanted to get 1 side 7 times. Would the answer be what I wrote then? I added another possibility to the data.
                      – user9995331
                      Aug 9 at 23:15















                    I have a fairly basic understanding or combinations and permutations. I memorized the formulas and kind of know when to differentiate the two, but don't really understand how and why you would multiply certain values like this. When you say I you want to pick 7 heads from 10 possible (coins/heads?) and get 3 tails. I thought that meant the data was 2-dimensional? and must be multiplied. Say for example is was a 3 sided die. You wanted to get 1 side 7 times. Would the answer be what I wrote then? I added another possibility to the data.
                    – user9995331
                    Aug 9 at 23:15




                    I have a fairly basic understanding or combinations and permutations. I memorized the formulas and kind of know when to differentiate the two, but don't really understand how and why you would multiply certain values like this. When you say I you want to pick 7 heads from 10 possible (coins/heads?) and get 3 tails. I thought that meant the data was 2-dimensional? and must be multiplied. Say for example is was a 3 sided die. You wanted to get 1 side 7 times. Would the answer be what I wrote then? I added another possibility to the data.
                    – user9995331
                    Aug 9 at 23:15










                    up vote
                    1
                    down vote













                    the combinations notation $10choose 7 = frac 10!7!3!$ accounts for the fact that if you have 7 heads you also have 3 non-heads. $10choose 710choose 3$ is effectively squaring the value that you need for that term. Similar for the other terms.






                    share|cite|improve this answer
























                      up vote
                      1
                      down vote













                      the combinations notation $10choose 7 = frac 10!7!3!$ accounts for the fact that if you have 7 heads you also have 3 non-heads. $10choose 710choose 3$ is effectively squaring the value that you need for that term. Similar for the other terms.






                      share|cite|improve this answer






















                        up vote
                        1
                        down vote










                        up vote
                        1
                        down vote









                        the combinations notation $10choose 7 = frac 10!7!3!$ accounts for the fact that if you have 7 heads you also have 3 non-heads. $10choose 710choose 3$ is effectively squaring the value that you need for that term. Similar for the other terms.






                        share|cite|improve this answer












                        the combinations notation $10choose 7 = frac 10!7!3!$ accounts for the fact that if you have 7 heads you also have 3 non-heads. $10choose 710choose 3$ is effectively squaring the value that you need for that term. Similar for the other terms.







                        share|cite|improve this answer












                        share|cite|improve this answer



                        share|cite|improve this answer










                        answered Aug 9 at 23:06









                        Doug M

                        39.4k31749




                        39.4k31749




















                            up vote
                            1
                            down vote













                            The problem is that once you have chosen which $9 $ of the ten flips are going to be heads, there's is no choice remaining as to which one is a tail. It has to be the last one not selected.



                            Hence the formula starts with $ldots +10choose 9 $, times nothing (or times $1choose 1 $ if you will).






                            share|cite|improve this answer
























                              up vote
                              1
                              down vote













                              The problem is that once you have chosen which $9 $ of the ten flips are going to be heads, there's is no choice remaining as to which one is a tail. It has to be the last one not selected.



                              Hence the formula starts with $ldots +10choose 9 $, times nothing (or times $1choose 1 $ if you will).






                              share|cite|improve this answer






















                                up vote
                                1
                                down vote










                                up vote
                                1
                                down vote









                                The problem is that once you have chosen which $9 $ of the ten flips are going to be heads, there's is no choice remaining as to which one is a tail. It has to be the last one not selected.



                                Hence the formula starts with $ldots +10choose 9 $, times nothing (or times $1choose 1 $ if you will).






                                share|cite|improve this answer












                                The problem is that once you have chosen which $9 $ of the ten flips are going to be heads, there's is no choice remaining as to which one is a tail. It has to be the last one not selected.



                                Hence the formula starts with $ldots +10choose 9 $, times nothing (or times $1choose 1 $ if you will).







                                share|cite|improve this answer












                                share|cite|improve this answer



                                share|cite|improve this answer










                                answered Aug 9 at 23:08









                                Arnaud Mortier

                                19.6k22159




                                19.6k22159




















                                    up vote
                                    1
                                    down vote













                                    The number of sequences of ten tosses that contain exactly seven heads and three tails is
                                    $$binom107binom33 = binom107$$
                                    since there are $binom107$ ways to select exactly seven of the ten positions for the heads and $binom33$ ways to select all three of the remaining three positions for the tails.



                                    By similar reasoning, the number of sequences of ten tosses that contain exactly $k$ heads and $10 - k$ tails is

                                    $$binom10kbinom10 - k10 - k = binom10k$$
                                    since there are $binom10k$ ways to select exactly $k$ of the ten positions in the sequence for the heads and $binom10 - k10 - k$ to select all $10 - k$ of the remaining $10 - k$ positions for the tails.



                                    Hence, the number of sequences of ten coin tosses in which at least seven heads occur is
                                    beginalign*
                                    sum_k = 7^10 binom10kbinom10 - k10 - k & = sum_k = 7^10 binom10k\
                                    & = binom107 + binom108 + binom109 + binom1010\
                                    & = 120 + 45 + 10 + 1\
                                    & = 176
                                    endalign*



                                    In your attempt, when you calculated the number of ways of selecting seven heads and three tails, you first selected seven of the ten positions for the heads and then selected three of the ten positions for the tails without taking into account that the three tails can only occupy the $10 - 7 = 3$ positions not already occupied by heads. That means you allowed heads and tails to occupy the same positions in the sequence, a physical impossibility.






                                    share|cite|improve this answer
























                                      up vote
                                      1
                                      down vote













                                      The number of sequences of ten tosses that contain exactly seven heads and three tails is
                                      $$binom107binom33 = binom107$$
                                      since there are $binom107$ ways to select exactly seven of the ten positions for the heads and $binom33$ ways to select all three of the remaining three positions for the tails.



                                      By similar reasoning, the number of sequences of ten tosses that contain exactly $k$ heads and $10 - k$ tails is

                                      $$binom10kbinom10 - k10 - k = binom10k$$
                                      since there are $binom10k$ ways to select exactly $k$ of the ten positions in the sequence for the heads and $binom10 - k10 - k$ to select all $10 - k$ of the remaining $10 - k$ positions for the tails.



                                      Hence, the number of sequences of ten coin tosses in which at least seven heads occur is
                                      beginalign*
                                      sum_k = 7^10 binom10kbinom10 - k10 - k & = sum_k = 7^10 binom10k\
                                      & = binom107 + binom108 + binom109 + binom1010\
                                      & = 120 + 45 + 10 + 1\
                                      & = 176
                                      endalign*



                                      In your attempt, when you calculated the number of ways of selecting seven heads and three tails, you first selected seven of the ten positions for the heads and then selected three of the ten positions for the tails without taking into account that the three tails can only occupy the $10 - 7 = 3$ positions not already occupied by heads. That means you allowed heads and tails to occupy the same positions in the sequence, a physical impossibility.






                                      share|cite|improve this answer






















                                        up vote
                                        1
                                        down vote










                                        up vote
                                        1
                                        down vote









                                        The number of sequences of ten tosses that contain exactly seven heads and three tails is
                                        $$binom107binom33 = binom107$$
                                        since there are $binom107$ ways to select exactly seven of the ten positions for the heads and $binom33$ ways to select all three of the remaining three positions for the tails.



                                        By similar reasoning, the number of sequences of ten tosses that contain exactly $k$ heads and $10 - k$ tails is

                                        $$binom10kbinom10 - k10 - k = binom10k$$
                                        since there are $binom10k$ ways to select exactly $k$ of the ten positions in the sequence for the heads and $binom10 - k10 - k$ to select all $10 - k$ of the remaining $10 - k$ positions for the tails.



                                        Hence, the number of sequences of ten coin tosses in which at least seven heads occur is
                                        beginalign*
                                        sum_k = 7^10 binom10kbinom10 - k10 - k & = sum_k = 7^10 binom10k\
                                        & = binom107 + binom108 + binom109 + binom1010\
                                        & = 120 + 45 + 10 + 1\
                                        & = 176
                                        endalign*



                                        In your attempt, when you calculated the number of ways of selecting seven heads and three tails, you first selected seven of the ten positions for the heads and then selected three of the ten positions for the tails without taking into account that the three tails can only occupy the $10 - 7 = 3$ positions not already occupied by heads. That means you allowed heads and tails to occupy the same positions in the sequence, a physical impossibility.






                                        share|cite|improve this answer












                                        The number of sequences of ten tosses that contain exactly seven heads and three tails is
                                        $$binom107binom33 = binom107$$
                                        since there are $binom107$ ways to select exactly seven of the ten positions for the heads and $binom33$ ways to select all three of the remaining three positions for the tails.



                                        By similar reasoning, the number of sequences of ten tosses that contain exactly $k$ heads and $10 - k$ tails is

                                        $$binom10kbinom10 - k10 - k = binom10k$$
                                        since there are $binom10k$ ways to select exactly $k$ of the ten positions in the sequence for the heads and $binom10 - k10 - k$ to select all $10 - k$ of the remaining $10 - k$ positions for the tails.



                                        Hence, the number of sequences of ten coin tosses in which at least seven heads occur is
                                        beginalign*
                                        sum_k = 7^10 binom10kbinom10 - k10 - k & = sum_k = 7^10 binom10k\
                                        & = binom107 + binom108 + binom109 + binom1010\
                                        & = 120 + 45 + 10 + 1\
                                        & = 176
                                        endalign*



                                        In your attempt, when you calculated the number of ways of selecting seven heads and three tails, you first selected seven of the ten positions for the heads and then selected three of the ten positions for the tails without taking into account that the three tails can only occupy the $10 - 7 = 3$ positions not already occupied by heads. That means you allowed heads and tails to occupy the same positions in the sequence, a physical impossibility.







                                        share|cite|improve this answer












                                        share|cite|improve this answer



                                        share|cite|improve this answer










                                        answered Aug 10 at 10:26









                                        N. F. Taussig

                                        38.8k93153




                                        38.8k93153




















                                            up vote
                                            0
                                            down vote













                                            Consider thinking 10 flipping of a coin and getting n<10 heads as putting n black balls(assume tails are white balls) in 10 boxes...
                                            Now,
                                            the question transforms to how many ways can you put at least 7 black balls in 10 boxes?



                                            The answer is 10c10+10c9+10c8+10c7=176
                                            . The permutation of white balls doesn't matter as interchanging the box no of white balls counts as a same result.....






                                            share|cite|improve this answer


























                                              up vote
                                              0
                                              down vote













                                              Consider thinking 10 flipping of a coin and getting n<10 heads as putting n black balls(assume tails are white balls) in 10 boxes...
                                              Now,
                                              the question transforms to how many ways can you put at least 7 black balls in 10 boxes?



                                              The answer is 10c10+10c9+10c8+10c7=176
                                              . The permutation of white balls doesn't matter as interchanging the box no of white balls counts as a same result.....






                                              share|cite|improve this answer
























                                                up vote
                                                0
                                                down vote










                                                up vote
                                                0
                                                down vote









                                                Consider thinking 10 flipping of a coin and getting n<10 heads as putting n black balls(assume tails are white balls) in 10 boxes...
                                                Now,
                                                the question transforms to how many ways can you put at least 7 black balls in 10 boxes?



                                                The answer is 10c10+10c9+10c8+10c7=176
                                                . The permutation of white balls doesn't matter as interchanging the box no of white balls counts as a same result.....






                                                share|cite|improve this answer














                                                Consider thinking 10 flipping of a coin and getting n<10 heads as putting n black balls(assume tails are white balls) in 10 boxes...
                                                Now,
                                                the question transforms to how many ways can you put at least 7 black balls in 10 boxes?



                                                The answer is 10c10+10c9+10c8+10c7=176
                                                . The permutation of white balls doesn't matter as interchanging the box no of white balls counts as a same result.....







                                                share|cite|improve this answer














                                                share|cite|improve this answer



                                                share|cite|improve this answer








                                                edited Aug 10 at 0:07

























                                                answered Aug 9 at 23:15









                                                Sadil Khan

                                                3437




                                                3437



























                                                     

                                                    draft saved


                                                    draft discarded















































                                                     


                                                    draft saved


                                                    draft discarded














                                                    StackExchange.ready(
                                                    function ()
                                                    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f2877804%2fyou-flip-a-coin-10-times-how-many-ways-can-you-get-at-least-7-heads%23new-answer', 'question_page');

                                                    );

                                                    Post as a guest













































































                                                    Comments

                                                    Popular posts from this blog

                                                    Long meetings (6-7 hours a day): Being “babysat” by supervisor

                                                    Is the Concept of Multiple Fantasy Races Scientifically Flawed? [closed]

                                                    Confectionery