How do I use the pythagorean theorem to pocket balls?

Not to split hairs, but you essentially are saying:

A(sqrt) + B(sqrt) = C(sqrt)

I think you mean:

A^2 + B^2 = C^2
or

"The sum of the squares of the two short sides of a right triangle is equal to the squre of the hypotenuse" :wink:

Edit: Never mind...you got to it before I wrote it out.

Good catch though. You were just a minute behind. :)
 
Dang! that's who I meant!

Joey I'd recommend skipping Pythagoras for pocketing balls in pool (use CET,Ghost,etc.). Instead study Archimedes and how to keep balls afloat in a swimming pool. :grin:

That's who I meant! This is all Greek to me.

Hu
 
I tried that pytho stuff for a while but I couldn't make a ball with it. I use the guess system now. Still can't make a ball but at least it's easier to remember.
 
The Pythagorean Theorem is used to calculate the length of any side of a RIGHT TRIANGLE when the length of two sides are known. It is not used to calculate angles. Once those sides are known,Trigonometry can be used to calculate the angles.
 
Joey I'd recommend skipping Pythagoras for pocketing balls in pool (use CET,Ghost,etc.). Instead study Archimedes and how to keep balls afloat in a swimming pool. :grin:

Had Archimedes got in that bath with any of the fat lasses that beer goggles have on occasions led me to incorrectly believe would displace less water than an aircraft carrier he wouldn't have been so bloody quick to be shouting about it out loud :smile:
 
How do you use the pythagorean theorem to pocket balls? Simple.

In high school you are unable to understand it, flunk geometry, then flunk out of school and start hanging around a pool room. Inevitably you will start playing for money, and that focuses your mind in a way pythagoras never could.
 
Hey Joey, You could always draw up some situations that you think are likely to arrive, and then practice them. The problem I have is being able to execute the shot correctly.
And then where you hit the whitey as well.
Then you go to another table where the rails may not be as good or correct and your shot is off. Like the good golfers, good pool players quickly adjust to the enviroment.
Neil
 
similar triangles

Joey,

I hope you got all the way to my response. I can see how you might have had enough after about ten of these hilarious bastards' responses. Anyway, maybe you're thinking of similar triangles, and not pythagora's theorem. You can use similar triangles to aim for the natural angle on one rail kicks and banks. I hardly ever use it anymore, unless I'm double and triple checking the aim for the $.



I heard Harold Worst used it.
Someone gave me a betamax tape lesson of it but I lost the tape.
I believe you take the distance from the cb to the pocket then pocket to the ob, then you move the stick to the square root of that but am confused.
Do you square the distance or the angle?
Of which?
 
Joey,

I hope you got all the way to my response. I can see how you might have had enough after about ten of these hilarious bastards' responses. Anyway, maybe you're thinking of similar triangles, and not pythagora's theorem. You can use similar triangles to aim for the natural angle on one rail kicks and banks. I hardly ever use it anymore, unless I'm double and triple checking the aim for the $.

They've confused me.
I'm going to dowsing the pockets instead.
pendulumgroup.jpg
 
huummm...

Not exactly what you were asking for, but interesting, nonetheless:

"An important billiards principle emerges from our understanding of the conservation of momentum and the conservation of energy. Momentum conservation and the addition of vectors shows that a vector triangle is formed. The legs of the triangle are the momenta of the balls after the collision. The hypotenuse of the triangle is the initial momentum of the cue ball. The conservation of energy states that the kinetic energy before the collision must equal the kinetic energy after the collision. Kinetic energy is equal to ½ mv^2. Kinetic energy is a scalar (it has no direction, even though the velocity does have a direction.) If we write the equation for the conservation of energy and divide by the equal masses of all the balls, we find that the initial velocity squared of the cue ball must equal the sum of the velocity squared of the two balls after the collision. This is the Pythagorean theorem: a^2 + b^2 = c^2." [Edited for clarity]

From: http://www.tsn.ca/shows/citc/feature/?fid=9030
 
I heard Harold Worst used it.
Someone gave me a betamax tape lesson of it but I lost the tape.
I believe you take the distance from the cb to the pocket then pocket to the ob, then you move the stick to the square root of that but am confused.
Do you square the distance or the angle?
Of which?

LOL Why were at it why dont we just use the law of sines and figure the interior angles.
 
on a serious note;

i apologize for my posting in a humorous vein. i do think what bob callahan has linked to is a part of pool's many puzzles. vectors are important. i did read (i think in Scientific American) that the average competent pool player understands applied physics better than 90% of the general populace.



Not exactly what you were asking for, but interesting, nonetheless:

http://www.tsn.ca/shows/citc/feature/?fid=9030
 
Anyway, maybe you're thinking of similar triangles, and not pythagora's theorem. You can use similar triangles to aim for the natural angle on one rail kicks and banks. I hardly ever use it anymore, unless I'm double and triple checking the aim for the $.

Ohhh.......... now that makes more sense. He needs to use the double angle formulas. I was wondering how using Pythagoras Theorem or Pythagorean Triples or Pathagoras Laws of sines,cosines,secant and cosecant would work. :grin-square:
 
I think if you need that complex of a system to play pool, it might be time to move on to an easier game like bingo or shuffle board. I can see it now I walk into a pool room and see someone with a piece of graph paper a protractor and a calculator. FML
 
I think if you need that complex of a system to play pool, it might be time to move on to an easier game like bingo or shuffle board. I can see it now I walk into a pool room and see someone with a piece of graph paper a protractor and a calculator. FML

Study long....study wrong!
 
Actually geometry is not the primary governing principle in pool.


It is instead the ideal gas law, which determines whether lunacy such as "pool science" will produce enough air pressure in the person's head to explode his skull before he can get the shot off.

TxSkin
 
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