Pow19

POW # 19

Subject of Investigation:

Our POW involved a modified pool table that has had the side pockets removed. The table is set up so you shoot the ball from the lower left corner of the table, and the ball rolls to the other side of the table at a forty-five degree angle. Which then bounces off the opposite side at the same angle over and over until it lands in one of the pockets. We were asked the questions "Does the ball always hit a pocket eventually?" "If so, which pocket does it hit? " If it does hit a pocket, how many times does it bounce before it hits a pocket?

Information Gathering:

First I concluded that any tables that formed squares would have the ball landing in the top right corner of the table. Secondly I concluded that double squares make a tee-pee shape like an A without a horizontal line. Any irregular shaped pool tables make a weave design. See my attached sheet for examples.

Conclusions, Explanations, and Conjectures:

I concluded that the ball always hits a pocket eventually. I believe this because in all the diverse combinations I created all of them worked. There is no pocket that the ball hits every time but rather goes to a different one depending upon shape. Similarly I concluded that the number of bounces had to do with the shape and was not a pre determined number. I did notice some numerical patterns for the number of bounces but found just as many discrepancies in the pattern to disprove it.

Open Questions:

Some good investigations might be trying a pool table with the side pockets. That way it might take fewer bounces. Another good investigation might be changing the angles.

Evaluation:

I