Paper Pool Project

Throughout the Paper Pool Project, I discovered many rules that helped me determine
how many times the ball would hit the sides of the table before it landed in a pocket as well as
which pocket it landed in. For example, I realized that if I find the simplified ratio of the
dimensions of the pool table and add them, I would be able to get the total number of times
the ball would hit the table. There are also different rules for which pocket the ball goes into.
These strategies allowed me to predict which pocket the ball will fall into and how many hits it
will take.
In order to find out how many hits it will take until the ball lands into a pocket, I found
the ratio of the dimensions of the table. For example, a table with the dimensions 8 by 4 has a
ratio of 8 to 4. I simplified it to the lowest terms by dividing both rates by 4 and the ratio
became 2 to 1. Then, I added the rates 2 and 1 together to find the number of hits, 3. This
proves that this rule is correct.


Another rule thats for the number of hits that the ball makes is when the tables a
square or when its dimensions are equal, the ball will always be hit only 2 times. For example, a
table with the dimensions 3 by 3 and another table with the dimensions 2 by 2 will both make
the ball only get hit twice because the direction the balls heading to is straight to Pocket C.
This means that the only times that the ball is hit is when the pool stick hits it and when it lands
in the pocket. For this reason, this rule is right.


A rule related to both of these rules is that if a tables dimensions are proportional to
another tables dimensions, the ball will be hit the same number of times. For example, a table
with the dimensions 8 by 4 has a simplified ratio of 2 to 1 and makes the ball get hit 3 times. A
table with the dimensions 2 by 1 will also make the ball get hit 3 times. Two tables with the
dimensions 2 by 2 and 3 by 3 will have the ball get hit 2 times for both tables as well. The ratio
2 to 2 divided by 2 is 1 by 1 and the ratio 3 by 3 divided by 3 is 1 by 1 too. This shows that when
there are proportional tables, the number of hits will be equal.
For Pocket A, the rule is that its impossible
for the ball to go into it. The ball only lands in Pockets B, C,
1 hit
2 hits
3 hits
1 hit
2 hits
1 hit
2 hits
1 hit
2 hits
3 hits
1 hit
2 hits
3 hits
proportional
and D. This is because in order for the ball to go into Pocket A, it would have to go back from
the direction it came from. Going backwards is impossible because in order to go back, you
would have to hit a corner, causing it to go into a pocket. This reasoning confirms that my rule
is correct.
In order for the ball to get into Pocket B, the amount of columns on the grid has to be
even and the number of rows has to be odd. The dimensions of the table should also be
simplified in order to precisely predict which pocket the ball would land in. For example, if a
table has the dimensions 6 by 4, 6 representing the number of rows and 4 representing the
number of columns, it would have to be simplified to the lowest terms, 3 by 2 so that the
number of columns would be even and the number of rows would be odd. The number of
columns, 2, is an even number; and the number of rows, 3, is an odd number. This explains
that when the amount of columns is even and the number of rows is odd, the ball will go into
Pocket B.



To get the ball into Pocket C, the tables dimensions have to all be either even or odd.
Pocket C is also the only pocket that the ball can land in when the table is a square because a
squares dimensions are also all even. For example, tables with the dimensions 6 by 2 and 5 by
3 have dimensions that are both even and both odd. They make the ball go into Pocket C. This
informs that if a tables dimensions are two even numbers or two odd numbers.

Pocket D needs the table to have an odd amount of columns on the grid and an even
number of rows. In order to make sure that my predictions are accurate, I also have to simplify
the dimensions. For example, if a table has the dimensions 8 by 4, 4 representing the number
of columns and 8 representing the number of rows, it would have to be simplified to the lowest
terms, 2 by 1 so that the number of columns would be odd and the number of rows would be
even. This verifies that when the amount of columns is odd and the number of rows is even,
the ball will go into Pocket D.


4 columns
6 rows
A B
C D
A B
C D
A B
C D
6 columns
2 rows
5 columns
3 rows
D
A B
C
In conclusion, these rules helped me throughout the Paper Pool Project. I was able to
predict correctly on the number of hits and which pocket the ball would go in. The number of
hits is based on the lowest terms of the tables dimensions. For the pockets, it depended on
whether the dimensions were odd or even. As you can see, these tactics that I came up with
and thought of were useful in predicting how many hits it took and the pocket the ball would
land in, which made the project less complicated for me to do.