Saturday, 21 May 2016

Four Coins
     ,  3 comments
Four coins can be used to easily generate hexagram lines with yarrow stalks probabilities.

 This method has been devised by Stuart Anderson and proceeds as follows:

  1. Pick three identical coins and one coin that is notably different from the others 
  2. Throw the four coins;
  3. Look at the single different coin:
    • If it's tail, draw  ;
    • If it's head, draw  ;
  4. Look at the four coins, if among them there are exactly three head, it is a moving line.
  5. Repeat steps 1-4 drawing hexagram lines from bottom to top.

Probabilities

The table below summarizes the possible outcomes of this metods, the results that generate a moving line are highlighted in red.


By counting, it's easy to see that the probabilities are:
Prob(6) = 1/16
Prob(8) = 7/16
Prob(7) = 5/16
Prob(9) = 3/16
Prob(yin) = Prob(yang) = 1/2

3 comments:

  1. Stuart Anderson6/18/2018

    I'm the author of this method, and although the original article is gone along with mension.com, I have found a new home for a (slightly revised and better formatted) version of the article at russellcottrell.com. Here is a direct link, if you're interested:
    http://www.russellcottrell.com/virtualyarrowstalks/downloads/4coinmethod.pdf

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  2. Danger Socks10/07/2018

    Thank you for the link and this article (which brought it to my attention.)

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  3. Romain11/23/2024

    Thanks. That's my second favorite method now, after your cast a hexagramm online. They both allow me to keep focused on the topic, rather than shifting my attention to the counting processes of the yarrow stalks. 🙏🏻🥇

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