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> testers that don't flip properly I think that's the point. It shows that people don't usually flip properly, leading to biased results.

fluoridation 2y ago
But is that the case? The only way I've ever seen people flip a coin is by flicking it in the air with their thumb and either catching it or letting it hit a surface. I've never seen someone flip a coin like it was a die.
lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y ago
There is a [video presentation of the paper](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QjgvbvFoQA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QjgvbvFoQA) which does a good job of explaining the inspiration for the study within the first few minutes. It sounds like what they were intending to study is the actual variance that is introduced, on average, by imperfections in throws conducted by humans. Unless that's mistaken, it's a fair point to consider the n=48 here. Did they discover an average that can be generalized to humans or just to those 48?
- chongli 2y ago
  Yes and what immediately jumps out to me as a source of bias is that they asked this small group of 48 coin flippers to flip thousands of times each. I would’ve thought it would be obvious that when you ask people to do something thousands of times they might do it in a different (and biased) way than someone doing that thing only once. Get a hundred thousand people to flip a coin once each and then see what happens!
  - fluoridation 2y ago
    What's more, from the numbers cited it sounds like they had 48 people do nothing but flip coins for 8 hours (avg. 15 flips/min). Whether continuous or with breaks, there's no way you won't become seriously consistent. 7000 flips is many more flips most people will perform in their entire lives.
    - dylan604 2y ago
      In some circles, they'd make a post about how their "AI" flipped a coin 8000 times. Waiting for the HNer that likes electronics hacking to Show HN: My coin flipping robot I built over a weekend for consistent flips.
  - dfxm12 2y ago
    Get a hundred thousand people to flip a coin once each and then see what happens! Of all the stats we collect in sports, I wonder if someone has info on coin tosses in sports like American Football, Tennis, etc. I wonder if there are even rules regulating how a coin should be tossed in different sports...
    - skykooler 2y ago
      Having stats on the outcome of coin tosses in sports wouldn't help, because it's unlikely that the state of the coin before flipping was recorded.
arandomusername 2y ago
Except that flipping a coin hundreds/thousands of time in a row is not a representive of how people will flip a coin a single time/few times.

fluoridation 2y ago

But is that the case? The only way I've ever seen people flip a coin is by flicking it in the air with their thumb and either catching it or letting it hit a surface. I've never seen someone flip a coin like it was a die.

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y ago

There is a [video presentation of the paper](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QjgvbvFoQA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QjgvbvFoQA) which does a good job of explaining the inspiration for the study within the first few minutes. It sounds like what they were intending to study is the actual variance that is introduced, on average, by imperfections in throws conducted by humans. Unless that's mistaken, it's a fair point to consider the n=48 here. Did they discover an average that can be generalized to humans or just to those 48?

chongli 2y ago
Yes and what immediately jumps out to me as a source of bias is that they asked this small group of 48 coin flippers to flip thousands of times each. I would’ve thought it would be obvious that when you ask people to do something thousands of times they might do it in a different (and biased) way than someone doing that thing only once. Get a hundred thousand people to flip a coin once each and then see what happens!
- fluoridation 2y ago
  What's more, from the numbers cited it sounds like they had 48 people do nothing but flip coins for 8 hours (avg. 15 flips/min). Whether continuous or with breaks, there's no way you won't become seriously consistent. 7000 flips is many more flips most people will perform in their entire lives.
  - dylan604 2y ago
    In some circles, they'd make a post about how their "AI" flipped a coin 8000 times. Waiting for the HNer that likes electronics hacking to Show HN: My coin flipping robot I built over a weekend for consistent flips.
- dfxm12 2y ago
  Get a hundred thousand people to flip a coin once each and then see what happens! Of all the stats we collect in sports, I wonder if someone has info on coin tosses in sports like American Football, Tennis, etc. I wonder if there are even rules regulating how a coin should be tossed in different sports...
  - skykooler 2y ago
    Having stats on the outcome of coin tosses in sports wouldn't help, because it's unlikely that the state of the coin before flipping was recorded.

arandomusername 2y ago

Except that flipping a coin hundreds/thousands of time in a row is not a representive of how people will flip a coin a single time/few times.