*PLEASE NOTE. I ACCEPT RETURNS. IF YOU REMOVE THE PLASTIC OR DAMAGE IT (BOX INCLUDED) IN ANY WAY, YOU WILL NOT BE REFUNDED.


The Galton Board with Pascal’s Triangle is a 12" x 8.5" probability demonstrator providing a visualization of math in motion. The Galton Board displays centuries old mathematical concepts in an innovative device that fits on your desk like the size of an 8x10 framed photo. It incorporates Sir Francis Galton’s (1822-1911) invention from 1873 that illustrated the binomial distribution, which for a large number of rows of hexagons and a large number of beads approximates the normal distribution, a concept known as the Central Limit Theorem. According to the Central Limit Theorem, more specifically, the de Moivre– Laplace theorem, the normal distribution may be used as an approximation to the binomial distribution under certain conditions. The binomial distribution is altered by the number of rows of hexagons, causing proportional changes to the standard deviation of the resulting bell-shaped curve of beads that land in the bins. When rotated on its axis, the 6,000 1mm steel beads cascade through rows of symmetrically placed hexagons in the Galton Board. There is also one 2mm golden bead. When the device is level, each bead bounces off the hexagons with equal probability of moving to the left or right. As the beads settle into the bins at the bottom of the board, they accumulate to approximate a bell-shaped histogram. Printed on the lower part of the board is the normal distribution or bell curve, as well as the average and standard deviation lines relative to that distribution. The bell curve, also known as the Gaussian distribution (Carl Friedrich Gauss, 1777-1855), is important in statistics and probability theory. It is used in the natural and social sciences to represent random variables, like the beads in the Galton Board.