[Doctor Stochastic]

...the coins may fall in a straight line, in bunches or stacked...

And a single coin may roll under a dresser, fall in a drain, be flattened by a train. This makes little difference in the difficulty of computation.

I don't think it's a very good example as it doesn't generalize well. For example, it's nearly impossible to predict the weather for next July 7, but the weather averaged over all July is fairly accurate. Likewise, I cannot predict a single roll of a roulette wheel; but I can predict the outcome of many throws.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for your reply!

And a single coin may roll under a dresser, fall in a drain, be flattened by a train. This makes little difference in the difficulty of computation.

I was considering no such external factors in saying which is easier, only the coin or coins themselves as they may rest after having been tossed. One could envision all the coins being tossed onto a plane or in a vacuum with the solution relative only to spatial coordinates.

The point in the original post is that the process of solving a problem is easier with fewer factors to consider:

The impression I got from Whitehead's assessment of it is that scientific materialism is so reduced that it cannot help but produced results whereupon the investigators pronounce their reduced view is the correct because it is successful. Jeepers. It is much easier to predict the result from the toss of a single coin than it is to predict the result from tossing a pocketful of change.