How Reliable Is Coin Flipping

Flipping coins is a practice that started several decades ago especially in the game of football. The aim of flipping a coin was to obtain a fair chance providing results that can’t be disputed. Coin flipping also applies in mathematics especially when studying probability. The outcome is usually a 50% chance of obtaining either success or failure.

It can be used to settle disputes when choosing between two options. You can only have an opportunity of picking one and forgoing another. With coin flipping, an individual is only entitled to a side of the coin while another person is entitled to another. This practice eliminates any form of doubt, cheating, and any possibility of favoring one party over another.



In soccer flipping of coins is usually done at the start of the match. Around the 18th century, there was a match that was to take place in a certain city in a popular nation. Before this time, the practice of flipping coins wasn’t known by many. A referee will use his discretion to decide which team will use the left side while the other squad takes the other side.

Coin flipping was not a common practice because people felt it wasn’t necessary to use any coin or item to decide which team will take either of the sides. Unfortunately, the left side of the pitch was rough and muddy. It was a difficult decision for this referee to ask any team to take the rough side, so they won’t feel he had any favorites in mind. After series of arguments, somebody from outside the pitch had to propose using a coin to resolve this conflict. That issue was resolved without any fighting and further disputes. From that period coins flipping became a useful tool to decide which area a team had to play.



Using coins has been a very peaceful and fair chance of making certain critical decisions especially when it involves only two parties. Flipping a coin requires tossing it upward, it is usually difficult to determine which side of the coin will be a head or tail until the coin lands on the palms of the flipper. In mathematics, two sides of a coin are described as head and tail for easy identification. The head can mean the winning side while the tail the losing side. But, with coin flipping, there are no winners or losers, every team has an equal and fair chance which can only be determined after tossing the coin.

The results obtained after a coin is tossed can’t be disputed, that’s why some consider this kind of decision-making especially in the soccer game as the most reliable options. Another thing to note is that any coin can be used whether as long as there are two sides to it. Coin flipping has become a common practice used in almost every country and during soccer matches. It can resolve any conflicts within a few seconds when it involves choosing like in football games and other sporting events that have adopted coin-flipping before staring any game.