Bean machine

iVenky

In the bean machine, we usually drop the balls from the center of the top right? That's the reason why most of the balls accumulate in the middle bin. If you drop the balls from the top right corner (say) then balls should fall in the bins in the right side, right?

Thanks a lot.

jedishrfu

yes its supposed to simulate a gaussian distribution

iVenky

So you mean the place from which you drop the balls is the mean value of the gaussian distribution?

haruspex

Yes, if you're dropping the beans in the centre. If you drop them at the right edge then you'll only get the left half of the Gaussian. Here's a challenge: where will the mean be?

iVenky

It will still be at zero?

haruspex

No, must be closer to the edge where the beans are dropped in. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-normal_distribution

SteveL27

I saw one of those years ago. It's very impressive. The marbles make random bounces to the left or the right; but organize themselves neatly into a bell curve. How do they know how to do that? It's a demonstration that really brings math to life.