Plinko, the rare game played by a very select number of seniors, is a Quincunx.
The Quincunx, is a device which has a glass face and pins arranged in a five layer (or
more)pyramid. A ball is dropped from the top of the pyramid, and the pins deflect the ball either
left or right, with equal probability. The order makes no difference in where the ball ends up.
Whether its llrrr, or rrllr, the ball will end up in the right middle slot. This situation causes
the balls to have a normal distribution. The quincunx was invented by Francis Galton to
demonstrate in his lectures how a normal distribution works in the real world, and was the basis
for his Law of Error. In Astronomy, and I guess science in general, this refers to the fact
that the results of an experiment are almost never the same over and over. But, the results should
form a normal distribution in which the most common result is likely to be closest to the true
answer.
The slashes between the layers of pins represent that the
ball can go either left or right at any pin
O
|
V
*
/ \
* *
/ \ / \
* * *
/ \ / \ / \
* * * *
/ \ / \ / \ / \
* * * * *
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \
| | | * | | | |
| | | * | * | | |
| | | * | * | | |
| | | * | * | | |
| | | * | * | | |
| | | * | * | * | |
| | | * | * | * | |
| | * | * | * | * | |
| | * | * | * | * | * |
| * | * | * | * | * | * |
|____|_____|_____|_____|_____|____|
You can find a very nice simulation of a Quincunx at
http://www.ms.uky.edu/~mai/java/stat/GaltonMachine.html
Nvidia's video cards, such as the GeForce3, uses a form of
Anti-Aliasing which uses the idea of a quincunx perhaps to allow the pixel color to randomly overlap and supersede other pixels, or maybe to decide to what degree it will mix it with the original pixel color, to form smoother, less jagged,
polygon edges in video games.