# Thread: homework help? pinball machine probabilities

1. ## homework help? pinball machine probabilities

Hi, all. I am not sure I put this put in the right category, but I'll ask anyways.
The problem I am stuck on tells me to consider a small machine with only two cups. And for that small machine I have to find out the probability of a ball landing in each cup. Then, I have to repeat this process for other machines with 3, 4, and 5 cups. From there I have to use any pattern I see and derive an expression for the probability of landing in the ith cup from the left in a machine with n cups.
We also have to right the probabilities as fractions (not simplified) so we can find patterns.
Does anyone mind helping me with this?

2. ## Re: homework help? pinball machine probabilities

What have you tried so far?

3. ## Re: homework help? pinball machine probabilities

Originally Posted by Prove It
What have you tried so far?
I have found out that this project is very much related to a quincunx.

There was a first task to this assignment and I have finished that:

for the first task we were instructed to do an experiement with a machine with 5 cups and 40 balls.