probability

Have to make a choice between Mad Greens or ModPizza for Austin eats? Want to encourage friendly conflict resolution in your teaching and learning environment? Need your math students to hone their probability skills? Well, grab a virtual or digital coin flipper and keep charges of cheating, trick coins, and more at bay. Let’s explore several digital alternatives to the old “heads or tails” coin toss that you might find beneficial.

Note: Here are a variety of text and shape wheel spinners if you need even more complex choice makers.

1. Google’s Flip a Coin

This is a simple flip located on top of Google search results.

The Steps:

1. Visit https://google.com or type “flip a coin” into any Google Search.
2. Wait for the flip.
3. Get the result.
4. Click Flip Again to start the process over.

Tip: Tap on the down arrow below the coin graphic to see more tools, like a Metronome, Roll a Die, Spinner, Calculator, Meditate, and Color Picker.

2. Just Flip a Coin

This is a screen-sized flip that auto-starts upon arrival at the website.

The Steps:

1. Visit https://justflipacoin.com/.
2. The coin will flip upon arrival. You will also see how many times the coin has been tossed.
3. You can click Flip Again to instigate a new flip.
4. Tap Facebook or Twitter buttons to share the coin button.

Tip: Scroll down and change the coin’s color from grey to white, red, purple, blue, or green.

3. FlipSimu

This is a simple heads or tails simulator with statistics tracking and random flipping. You can also long-press and then release to simulate flipping energy.

The Steps:

1. Visit https://flipsimu.com.
2. Adjust the settings to customize text, images, quantity, colors, and sound.
3. Choose which flip type you want. There are three: 1) just flip, 2) test your intuition, and 3) test your luck.
4. Click the Flip It button or press and hold to simulate flipping energy.

Tip: Customize the coins you flip. You can change the text and colors for heads and/or tails. You can see below how I customized FlipSimu to reflect my wife and I. What a great way to win an argument, eh?

4. Random.org’s Coin Flipper

This is a virtual coin flipper that derives the randomness of the flip from atmospheric noise.

1. Visit https://www.random.org/coins.
2. Select a coin type. Random.org offers novelty coins, antique coins, Austrian, Australian, and Brazilian coins, among others.
3. Decide how many times you want to flip the coins (1-200 times).
4. Click the Flip Coin(s) button.

Tip: Want to see your own coins tossed? Send high quality coin pictures to Random.org. I’m considering sending them a Panamanian penny, known as a centesimo.

5. ESL Kids Games’ Classroom Coin Flip

This is another flipper that can go full screen and features the U.S. 1998 quarter.

1. Visit https://eslkidsgames.com/classroom-coin-flip.
2. Enlarge to full screen.
3. Click the Flip the Coin button.

The interface is simple enough for anyone to use. An added bonus? It keeps track of how many times the coin came up heads or tails. This record can be handy in a disagreement or in a math lesson.

Bonus!

RandomWordGenerator’s Coin Flip has an extra option that provides background information on randomness. You can also read tidbits of information about coin flipping you may not know about. And, Zac in the Comments, mentions this easy to use Flip a Coin Online tool:

I hope these digital tools assist you in finding your way through any situation. If you happen to have another resource, email me at mguhlin@tcea.org or drop it in the comments.