Thickness of a three-sided coin: A molecular dynamics study

G Subramanian, PHYSICAL REVIEW E, 103, L041301 (2021).

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.103.L041301

This Letter presents a numerical study across parameter space to calculate the aspect ratio (ratio of length to diameter) of a fair "three-sided coin": a cylinder that when tossed, has equal probabilities of landing heads, tails, or sideways. The results are cast in the context of previous analytical studies, and the various mechanisms that govern the dynamics of coin tossing are compared and contrasted. After more than 7 x 10(8) tosses of coins of various aspect ratios, this study finds the critical aspect ratio to be slightly less than (but not exactly equal to) root 3/2 approximate to 0.866.

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