h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Here's today's question to keep your appetites whetted. One unofficial virtual point will go to the winner. I promised you a hard one!

On a recent trip to the United States of America, I found I had a pocketful of American change. I had 50 coins in my pocket, totally 1 dollar. I dropped one coin. What are the chances that it was a quarter?

For those of you who don't know American money, there are four coins:

1 cent
5 cent
10 cent
25 cent (a quarter)

There are 100 cents in a dollar.

you have a 1 out of 50 chance.

aka spook

Spelling mistake in my question.

...50 coins totalling 1 dollar...

I don't know how Greebo does this!

100%

If you're going to lose one coin, Sod's Law states it'll be the highest value one

i noticed that, but thought i'd just answer the question instead f correcting your spelling. typical - the 1 time i see the question first and answer first it's not an official question.

It couldn't have been a quarter.

It couldn't have been a quarter.

It couldn't have been a quarter.

You can be sure that if it was an official question, they'd be flocking around like piranhas around a drowning capybara.

it could have been a quarter egon. if uw ant i'll tell u what all the different coins would be.

It couldn't have been a quarter.

Damn this browser!

I've just realised i didn't actually use any 10c coins in my calculations, so that's where I ballsed up.

Literally, "deja vu" means "already seen"

B

Literally, "deja vu" means "already seen"

G

Literally, "deja vu" means "already seen"

Q

Greebo would never stand for this, you know. We'd both be evicted from the quiz before we could say 'donut'.

B

1 in a 100 chance
(1 in 50 plus 0 in 50)

1 in 50
========
45 * 1 = 45
2 * 5 = 10
2 * 10 = 20
1 * 25 = 25

0 in 50
========
40 * 1 = 40
8 * 5 = 40
2 * 10 = 20
0 * 25 = 0

But what does deja vu actually mean <?>

six7s

Can you assume the chances of each of those combinations are 50-50? Interestingly, if the question had been "What's the chance in was a dime?" we could answer 40%.

You might not even have had any duaters in your fictional pocket full of fictional change!

I'm going to have to watch my spilling aren't I