Fred is going to flip one coin four times and record whether it lands on heads or tails for each flip. The list below shows the possible outcomes for each of the four flips.

H H H H H H H T H H T T H T T T
T H H H T T H H T T T H T T T T
H T H T T H T H T H H T H T T H
H H T H T T H T T H T T H T H H

What is the probability of flipping two tails and two heads?
A.

B.

C.

D.

1 answer

To determine the probability of flipping two tails and two heads in four flips of a coin, we can follow these steps:

  1. Count the total possible outcomes: Since each coin flip can result in either heads (H) or tails (T), and there are four flips, the total number of outcomes is \( 2^4 = 16 \).

  2. Count the favorable outcomes: We want to find the number of outcomes that have exactly two heads and two tails. This is a combination problem where we choose 2 flips to be heads (or tails) out of 4. The number of ways to choose 2 heads out of 4 flips is given by: \[ \binom{4}{2} = \frac{4!}{2!(4-2)!} = \frac{4 \times 3}{2 \times 1} = 6 \] Therefore, there are 6 favorable outcomes of getting exactly 2 heads and 2 tails.

  3. Calculate the probability: The probability is given by the ratio of the number of favorable outcomes to the total number of outcomes: \[ P(\text{2 heads, 2 tails}) = \frac{\text{Number of favorable outcomes}}{\text{Total outcomes}} = \frac{6}{16} = \frac{3}{8} \]

Thus, the probability of flipping two tails and two heads in four flips of a coin is \(\frac{3}{8}\).

The answer can be represented as: C. \(\frac{3}{8}\).