animation (version 2.4.1)

quincunx: Demonstration of the Quincunx (Bean Machine/Galton Box)

Description

Simulates the quincunx with ``balls'' (beans) falling through several layers (denoted by triangles) and the distribution of the final locations at which the balls hit is denoted by a histogram; quincunx() is shows single layer, and quincunx2() is a two-stage version of the quincunx.

Usage

quincunx(balls = 200, layers = 15, pch.layers = 2, pch.balls = 19,  col.balls = sample(colors(), balls, TRUE), cex.balls = 2)
quincunx2(balls = 200, layers = 15, pch.layers = 2, pch.balls = 19,  col.balls = sample(colors(), balls, TRUE), cex.balls = 2)

Arguments

balls

number of balls

layers

number of layers

pch.layers

point character of layers; triangles (pch = 2) are recommended

pch.balls, col.balls, cex.balls

point character, colors and magnification of balls

Value

A named vector: the frequency table for the locations of the balls. Note the names of the vector are the locations: 1.5, 2.5, ..., layers - 0.5.

Details

The bean machine, also known as the quincunx or Galton box, is a device invented by Sir Francis Galton to demonstrate the law of error and the normal distribution.

When a ball falls through a layer, it can either go to the right or left side with the probability 0.5. At last the location of all the balls will show us the bell-shaped distribution.

References

http://vis.supstat.com/2013/04/bean-machine

See Also

rbinom

Examples

set.seed(123)
oopt = ani.options(nmax = ifelse(interactive(), 200 + 15 - 
    2, 2), interval = 0.03)
freq = quincunx(balls = 200, col.balls = rainbow(200))
## frequency table
barplot(freq, space = 0)

## HTML animation page
saveHTML({
    ani.options(nmax = ifelse(interactive(), 200 + 15 - 
        2, 2), interval = 0.03)
    quincunx(balls = 200, col.balls = rainbow(200))
}, img.name = "quincunx", htmlfile = "quincunx.html", ani.height = 500, 
    ani.width = 600, single.opts = paste("'controls':", 
        "['first', 'previous', 'play', 'next', 'last', 'loop', 'speed'],", 
        "'delayMin': 0"), title = "Demonstration of the Galton Box", 
    description = c("Balls", "falling through pins will show you the Normal", 
        "distribution."))

ani.options(oopt)
set.seed(123)
oopt = ani.options(nmax = ifelse(interactive(), 200 + 15 - 
    2, 2), interval = 0.03)
freq = quincunx2(balls = 200, col.balls = rainbow(200))

## frequency table
barplot(freq$top, space = 0)  # top layers
barplot(freq$bottom, space = 0)  # bottom layers

## HTML animation page
saveHTML({
    ani.options(nmax = ifelse(interactive(), 200 + 15 - 
        2, 2), interval = 0.03)
    quincunx2(balls = 200, col.balls = rainbow(200))
}, img.name = "quincunx2", htmlfile = "quincunx2.html", 
    ani.height = 500, ani.width = 600, single.opts = paste("'controls':", 
        "['first', 'previous', 'play', 'next', 'last', 'loop', 'speed'],", 
        "'delayMin': 0"), title = "Demonstration of the Galton Box", 
    description = c("Balls", "falling through pins will show you the Normal", 
        "distribution."))

ani.options(oopt)