When tossing three coins, we can analyze the possible outcomes by considering the result of each individual coin. Each coin has two possible outcomes: heads (H) or tails (T).
For three coins, we can calculate the total number of outcomes using the formula for combinations, which states that if there are n trials and each trial has k outcomes, the total number of outcomes can be calculated as:
Number of outcomes = kn
In our case:
- n = 3 (the number of coins)
- k = 2 (the outcomes for each coin: heads or tails)
Plugging in the values, we get:
Number of outcomes = 23 = 8
This means there are 8 possible outcomes when tossing three coins. To visualize these outcomes, they can be listed as follows:
- HHH (all heads)
- HHT (two heads, one tail)
- HTH (two heads, one tail)
- THH (two heads, one tail)
- HTT (one head, two tails)
- THT (one head, two tails)
- TTH (one head, two tails)
- TTT (all tails)
Thus, the total number of outcomes when tossing three coins once is 8.