Hello. We are Adri, Jop, Jonne and Damian and our subject is Maths in Sports.I’m Adri and I’m 14 years old. My hobbies are playing football, playing video games and drawing. My future ambitions are graduating at the Pius X-College and going to university. I don’t really know which job I want to get later.
My name is Jop, I am 14 years old. I like playing volleyball and soccer. In the future I want to graduate at Pius x and go to university, probably I will study healthcare and become a doctor. I am Jonne and I am 14 years old. My hobbies are playing soccer and playing the guitar. My future ambitions are graduating at pius-x and then going to study at an University where I will hopefully become a doctor. My name is Damian. I’m 13 years old. My hobbies are athletics, gaming and reading. I don’t know my ambitions for the future. Interview with Ankie van Avendonk What is your job? I am a teacher at a primary school. which group do you teach? Group 5 Do teach your students mathematics? No, I do teach arithmetic. Do you use mathematics for your job? Yes I do, when I have to calculate marks, I have to use a formula. Can you name some exercises, which are mathematical? Sometimes my students have to calculate the volume of a object, that’s a mathematical exercise. What kind of mathematics did you do on secondary school? Math A Did you like math? Yes, because there is a lot variety in math. Interview with Dick Jaspers (Dutch pool player who was world champion for three times)
What do you think when hitting a ball with your cue ? I have to be concentrated when hitting the ball and think about the speed. Do you use mathematics during a game of pool ? no. Do you hit the ball purely depending on luck ? No, it’s all feeling and estimates after training on this for years. Do you estimate the way the ball will bounce back ? Yes, using feeling and insight. How does an curveball work ? With the pomerance of the cue completely right or left on the ball. Because of this, spinning of the ball is caused, and the spin can be pretty intensive. How can you make sure that a ball goes in a certain direction ? It’s just the knowledge that you gather after all those years of playing pool. Is the speed of the ball important ? the speed of the ball is important, with the speed you can predict the reactions of a ball that was hit by a ball that you hit with your cue. Is mathematics important to win a game of pool ? Not really. Mathematics just isn’t important. Concentration, hitting the ball in a straight line, knowledge and holding the cue in the right way are the most important skills. Since you don’t use mathematics, what is your way of winning games of pool ? Dare to take risks! And self-esteem is very important to be able to win. The co-operation with the students from India was a very important aspect of this project. A WhatsApp group was created so that we could share our thoughts.
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Pool is played on a six pocket table. Modern pool tables generally range in size from 3.5 feet (1.07 m) by 7 feet (2.13 m), to 4.5 feet (1.37 m) by 9 feet (2.74 m).
The balls range from 2.25 inches (57.15 mm) in diameter to 2.375 inches (60.33 mm) in diameter.[5] Under the WPA/BCA (see below) equipment specifications, the weight may be from 5.5 to 6 oz. (156–170 g) with a diameter of 2.25 in. (57.15 mm), plus or minus 0.005 in. (0.127 mm). Modern coin-operated pool tables generally use one of three methods to distinguish and return the cue ball to the front of the table while the numbered balls return to an inaccessible receptacle until paid for again: the cue ball is larger and heavier than the other balls, or denser and heavier, or has a magnetic core. In the United States, the most commonly played game is eight-ball. The goal of eight-ball, which is played with a full rack of fifteen balls and the cue ball, is to claim a suit (commonly stripes or solids in the US, and reds or yellows in the UK), pocket all of them, then legally pocket the 8 ball, while denying one's opponent opportunities to do the same with their suit, and without sinking the 8 ball early by accident. In the United Kingdom the game is commonly played in pubs, and it is competitively played in leagues on both sides of the Atlantic. The most prestigious tournaments including the World Open are sponsored and sanctioned by the International Pool Tour. Rules vary widely from place to place (and between continents to such an extent that British-style eight-ball pool/blackball is properly regarded as a separate game in its own right). Pool halls in North America are increasingly settling upon the World Pool-Billiard Association International Standardised Rules. But tavern eight-ball (also known as "bar pool"), typically played on smaller, coin-operated tables and in a "winner keeps the table" manner, can differ significantly even between two venues in the same city. The growth of local, regional and national amateur leagues may alleviate this confusion eventually. A variant using only three balls, generally played such that the player at turn continues shooting until all the balls are pocketed, and the player to do so in the fewest shots wins. The game can be played by two or more players. Dispenses with some fouls common to both nine- and eight-ball. There are no widespread official or standardised rules for three-ball, though local tournaments promulgate rulesets that have some sway over area player populations even outside the context of the tournaments. Below are listed the most common, widely accepted rules. The game is played on any pocket billiard table. Under tournament conditions, a single round usually consists of three or five games(innings) per player (with each player's individual inning scores added to calculate their final score for the round), and a match may consist of several multi-inning rounds, back-to-back or spread out over a period of time (even weeks). In a gambling context, three-ball (like the group pool games killer and cutthroat, and the card game poker) is typically played in multiple games (each played out until someone wins the betting pool, then after new antes are placed, play begins again), sometimes for many hours, with players able to enter and leave as suits their finances and risk-aversion. We want to prove you can use maths to win a game of pool. For this experiment, we use: a pool table - a laser beam - a circular protractor - a small mirror - pool balls - a cue. To start off, you place the balls in a triangle form (with the help of a tool in the shape of a triangle) in the middle of the table. You can now start the game. The person that starts the game has to hit the triangle formation with a white ball, using the cue. When you hit the balls, they will spread over the entire table and maybe some of them fall through one of the six holes on the sides of the table. During a competitive game of pool you can’t really use any tools during the match, but if you just want to play a game with family or friends it’s obviously possible. In our experiment, we use a laser and a mirror to look how the ball will bounce when you hit the border of the table. The ball will bounce back according to the rule of the law of reflection. This law implies that when the ball hits the border at a certain angle, the ball will also bounce back at that angle, which makes the rule pretty easy. So when you place the laser in front of the white ball and put the mirror next to the border of the table, the laser should reflect and bend back to the table at the same angle as it hit the mirror. If you move the laser around in a clever way, you can see at which angle the ball has to hit the border in order to get into one of the six holes. But of course this isn’t everything and there are also other factors. You also have to make sure you hit the ball properly and with enough force and a little bit of luck is always required. The law of reflection can be used, but there is a different way to do this experiment, by using the tangent of an angle of elevation. How does this work? You have to divide the rise by the run to get the tan. With this theorem we can easily predict the angle of reflection and incidence. An example is seen below. Let’s put this in practice. Watch our video! |
Comparison with the Indian schools:
We compared our work with the other sites from the Indian schools. It was interesting to see their work and vision. So, we compared our work to the Bal Bharati Public School. We also wanted to compare our work with the Euroschool but they weren’t finished yet.
What was the same ?
We both used mathematical theorems. They used the Pythagorean theorem and quadratic equations while we used the law of reflection to prove our point. We both used ball sports as a topic. Pool is not really recognised as a ball sport, but since the pool balls are the most important aspect of the game, we consider it to be one.
What were the differences ?
We took an entirely different perspective to prove our point. The theorems used are very different from each other which created diversity. They also used more than one sport for their presentation, while we focussed on pool only. We also looked on how maths can affect people in real life, as we did an interview about it. It’s really interesting to learn from each other this way and look at sports in different ways.
We compared our work with the other sites from the Indian schools. It was interesting to see their work and vision. So, we compared our work to the Bal Bharati Public School. We also wanted to compare our work with the Euroschool but they weren’t finished yet.
What was the same ?
We both used mathematical theorems. They used the Pythagorean theorem and quadratic equations while we used the law of reflection to prove our point. We both used ball sports as a topic. Pool is not really recognised as a ball sport, but since the pool balls are the most important aspect of the game, we consider it to be one.
What were the differences ?
We took an entirely different perspective to prove our point. The theorems used are very different from each other which created diversity. They also used more than one sport for their presentation, while we focussed on pool only. We also looked on how maths can affect people in real life, as we did an interview about it. It’s really interesting to learn from each other this way and look at sports in different ways.