What is the probability of a coin landing on its side?

Prob. of Landing on one side = 0.5
Prob. of Landing on the other = 0.5

Therefore, Prob. of Landing on one side or the other = 0.5 +0.5 = 1

:)





I think you mean 'landing on its edge'. In that case it depends on the coin (some even have rounded edges).


Interestingly what face a coin lands on is not exactly 50/50. Each person has an individual flipping-style which leads to a different side being preferred (not explicitly heads vs. tails but in 'landing with the same face upwards as was upwards at the beginning of the flip' vs. 'landing with the other face upwards to the way it started'). On average (with most people) the coin lands the same way up as it started more often than not (you'll have to do hundreds and hundreds of flips before you notice this).




If (like me) you want to be really pedantic you would also take into account the very slight possibility that the coin won'tland at all.