In probability theory and statistics, a sequence of independent Bernoulli trials with probability 1/2 of success on each trial is metaphorically called a fair coin. One for which the probability is not 1/2 is called a biased or unfair coin. In theoretical studies, the assumption that a coin is fair is often made by referring to an ideal coin. John Edmund Kerrich performed experiments in coin flipping and found that a coin made from a wooden disk about the size of a crown and coated on one side with lead landed heads (wooden side up) 679 times out of 1000.
In statistics, the question of checking whether a coin is fair is one whose importance lies, firstly, in providing a simple problem on which to illustrate basic ideas of statistical inference and, secondly, in providing a simple problem that can be used to compare various competing methods of statistical inference, including decision theory.
vignette|Le pile ou face est un exemple d'épreuve de Bernouilli. En probabilité, une épreuve de Bernoulli de paramètre p (réel compris entre 0 et 1) est une expérience aléatoire (c'est-à-dire soumise au hasard) comportant deux issues, le succès ou l'échec. L'exemple typique est le lancer d'une pièce de monnaie possiblement pipée. On note alors p la probabilité d'obtenir pile (qui correspond disons à un succès) et 1-p d'obtenir face. Le réel p représente la probabilité d'un succès.