soozphotoz: Sunday Scribblings - Mathematical Evidence 50/50

Math or Snakes...both strike an almost paralyzing fear; but of the two, math is the greater mystery. It isn't that I don't understand how to solve algebraic equations (or used to anyway), it is the certainty of math that is a mystery to me.

The biggest mystery of all to me is probability...I understand that if I flip a coin that there is a 50/50 chance that it will land on heads and the same chance that it will land on tails. I also understand that each time that the coin is tossed, the odds remain the same....50/50. Now is where it gets a bit sticky....I KNOW that with each coin toss the outcomes are equally likely to occur. I KNOW that each new flip of the coin has no dependency or relevance to any prior toss. I just don't accept it or believe it.

Think about it. This means that if an infinite being were to spend a million years or even an eternity flipping a coin constantly (without even potty breaks) it is POSSIBLE that it could come out heads EVERY SINGLE TIME....EVERY time! Whether or not it is LIKELY to come out heads for all of eternity isn't really the mystery to me...the fact that it is even possible for that to happen just defies all reason. I'm from Missouri, so until i SEE that coin land on heads for all of eternity, I just cannot agree with the Laws of Probability. Show Me for even 24 hours and perhaps I will accept that as Mathematical Evidence.

Now for that practical application that your math teacher always lied to you about...aside from calculating fractions for recipes and figuring out how much that dress that is 33% off costs, probability is about the only useful thing I learned in high school math.

Let's say I am at the Bellagio in Vegas. I am standing at the Roulette wheel considering if I should place a bet on Black or Red --because my odds are even. Some mentally unstable rich old guy gives me $20,000 to bet on the eleventh spin because I remind him of his third wife...God rest her soul...and should I win, we split the money. If the first ten spins came out Red, on which color should I place my bet? My mind says "Black! It's GOTTA be Black! No WAY Red will come up again!" I KNOW my chances are still 50/50 that the little white ball will land on either color. So where do I place my bet...Red or Black?

Well, friends, that too is a mystery....

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