# How does a coin toss? A look under an asymptotic microscope

## TL;DR

This paper investigates whether coin flips are truly random or deterministic by analyzing the mechanics involved, providing new insights into the probability of heads without bounces, challenging traditional assumptions.

## Contribution

It offers a novel perspective on coin toss mechanics, extending Keller's 1986 work to better understand the deterministic factors influencing outcomes.

## Key findings

- Mechanics can predict coin outcomes given initial conditions
- New insights into the probability of heads without bounce effects
- Challenges the assumption of inherent randomness in coin flips

## Abstract

Is flipping a coin a deterministic process or a random one? We do not allow bounces. If we know the initial velocity and the spin given to the coin, mechanics should predict the face it lands on. However, the coin toss has been everyone's introduction to probability and has been assumed to be the hallmark random process. So, what's going on here? This article discusses the problem first brought up by Keller in 1986 using a perspective tangential to the one used by Keller which leads us to new insight about the probability of getting heads.