Gigo 1249R, Manual, Page: 36 / 80

35
B
rainstorming
B
rainstorming
The pinball machine here refers to the
mechanical type. Marbles can be launched
either automatically or manually, with both of
them launching the marble by releasing a plunger,
which sends the marble along the track up to the top.
Since a pinball machine’s design is sloped, gravity will pull
the marble down. While rolling, the marble strikes stakes, altering its
path. Eventually, the marble will fall into different columns that are dived
by different baffles. One giant pinball machine uses a football instead of a
marble. After the football is launched, it follows the curved path to the top.
This looks like the “banana-throwing” skill from football, hence why this
machine is called a “banana-throwing pinball machine”.
In life, what other machines have you seen that use
random allocation?
Daily
Application
Daily
Application
T his is an experimental instrument, which looks like a pinball at first glance. On
the top of the device, there is a funnel-shaped container that contains hundreds
of same-sized marbles. The mouth of the funnel is controlled by an active latch.
Underneath it is a bunch of regular triangular lattices, which consists of stakes.
Furthest below are the baffles, which correspond to each stake.
When conducting the experiment, you only need to pull out the latch. The
marbles will roll down into different columns, which are divided by the baffles.
The outline of the marble pile will be bell-
shaped. Most of the marbles fall into the middle
section, with some marbles deflecting either
left or right with equal probability. The result is
close to a normal distribution. This is Pascal's
Marble Run, often used for learning probability
distributions.
Kids, what other types of pinball machines can
you think of?
9
Pinball
Scientific
Application
Slopes and Gravity