quincunx {derivmkts}

Quincunx simulation

Description

quincunx simulates balls dropping down a pegboard with a 50% chance of bouncing right or left at each level. The balls accumulate in bins. If enough balls are dropped, the distribution approaches normality. This device is called a quincunx. See https://www.mathsisfun.com/data/quincunx.html

Usage

quincunx(n = 3, numballs = 20, delay = 0.1, probright = 0.5, plottrue = TRUE)

Arguments

n

Integer The number of peg levels, default is 3

numballs

Integer The number of balls dropped, default is 20

delay

Numeric Number of seconds between ball drops. Set delay > 0 to see animation with delay seconds between dropped balls. If delay < 0, the simulation will run to completion without delays. If delay == 0, the user must hit <return> for the next ball to drop. The default is 0.1 second and can be set with the delay parameter.

probright

Numeric The probability the ball bounces to the right; default is 0.5

plottrue

Boolean If TRUE, the display will indicate bin levels if the distribution were normal. Default is TRUE

Examples

## These examples will not display correctly within RStudio unless
## the plot window is large
quincunx(delay=0)
quincunx(n=10, numballs=200, delay=0)
quincunx(n=20, numballs=200, delay=0, probright=0.7)