Friday time wasting link

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/fetchfido/games/curve_ball/curve_ball.htm

I'm stuck on level 7.

Nice! Just what I need when I have 30+ source files to check in today

Link to play fullscreen .

Refresh the page to play again.

Just what I need when I have 30+ source files to check in today

Or what I need when I have to write a document explaining why perfect randomness tends to "favor" certain values, even after having explained this 100+ times in the last three months. I need every diversion I can get.

Or what I need when I have to write a document explaining why perfect randomness tends to "favor" certain values, even after having explained this 100+ times in the last three months.

Can you forward a copy to the Empeg guys? I wanna know why a full-player-shuffle still tends to cluster neighboring FIDs.

Oh man, that game sucks (is very good).
I hate you (appreciate the distraction).
You really shouldnt post stuff like this on a Friday (got anymore?)

Can you forward a copy to the Empeg guys? I wanna know why a full-player-shuffle still tends to cluster neighboring FIDs.

Ha! I'm not statistician, this document is about a very specific program and I doubt it would work to cover anything else. It basically states (in a much longer format) that given a small number of tests pure randomness will tend to favor certain values and yield a bell curve, but over a larger number of tests this curve will flatten. However, as we tend to perceive things in smaller sections we see the outliers on the bell curve and assume the program isn't random. In order to prove that the program is working I actually broke the selection code out into a separate program where I could simulate 100,000 tests and show that the curve is flat (all items are selected at an equal percentage) over extended use. However, any given set of 50 tests will appear to have items "favored" over others.

Anyway, my document is much longer and more detailed, but that's the basic jist. It really just explains why my test proves that the program is truly random, even though it isn't perceived that way. I’ve had calls daily on the subject, and trying to recall all my statistics from college has been making my head hurt. At one point I even plugged a binomial distribution function into a spreadsheet in order to give users specific expectations based on their data, and this shuts most calls up (mostly because they don’t understand what I’m sending them, but it works). This document is being prepared for the head bigwig, who needs more than just a simple Excel spreadsheet.

Wow, I'm glad I didn't see this at work. I was way to busy to check the board today, and I'm glad!

I got to level 8, but that red board throws some wicked curves at you.

Fun stuff, thanks a lot! Now I just hope I don't remember it on Monday morning...

Because people are influencing the randomness*.

*See the book Margins of Reality, which details a set of scientific experiments in which people were able to influence, in a statistically significant manner, the bias of a random process with has a gaussian distribution, using no physical interaction in the process.

Can you forward a copy to the Empeg guys? I wanna know why a full-player-shuffle still tends to cluster neighboring FIDs.

And can you forward a copy to Tony Fabris? He wants to know why a full-player-shuffle can appear to cluster neighbouring FIDs.

Peter

And can you forward a copy to Tony Fabris?

Wouldn't apply I'm afraid (unless you did some tests to back up the expected behavior), but I feel your pain!

Has anyone pasted the 8th level? Here's my score...

I didn't pass the 8th, but I got 28050 and beat the red guy once in the 8th. It's f'ing hard on that level.

Of course, as many times as I play, I always seem to screw up royally in the 2nd or 3rd levels. It's embarrasing

anyone figure out a way to start on a higher level ?