# Let's make a bell curve. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 11, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137 "2010-03-11T18:44:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/1 "2010-03-11T18:44:04Z")
A simple game. Without looking at the poll results first, choose a number in the poll that you think would contribute to a final result that is a bell curve. I’m going with 9 digits and single votes for this poll. I might try again with something like 12 choices and/or multiple votes. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/2 "2010-03-11T19:07:50Z")
Sorry. Should have read the OP first. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/3 "2010-03-11T19:29:32Z")
Well, interestingly enough, with my vote, the distribution was: 1 0 0% 2 0 0% 3 1 7.69% 4 3 23.08% 5 5 38.46% 6 3 23.08% 7 1 7.69% 8 0 0% 9 0 0% ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/4 "2010-03-11T19:45:43Z")
Maybe we should explain our rationales for picking the number we did, just to keep bumping the poll. I picked 5 because that number should be picked most, I figured I’d start it off right. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/5 "2010-03-11T19:55:17Z")
I picked 2 because I like the number and I was rewarded with a bellier curve. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/6 "2010-03-11T20:02:00Z")
I picked eight as every bell I own is dented and no longer bell shaped. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/7 "2010-03-11T20:08:32Z")
I figured that most people would select something in the middle, so I should probably select something on the end to taper off the bell. Then I thought some people might be thinking what I was thinking, which would lead to an inverse bell, so I should select something in the middle. Then I thought, “You’ve already spent more than 2 seconds thinking about this. Just click something,” and selected 1. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/8 "2010-03-11T20:11:18Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I figured that most people would select something in the middle, so I should probably select something on the end to taper off the bell. Then I thought some people might be thinking what I was thinking, which would lead to an inverse bell, so I should select something in the middle. I thought the same thing, so I split the difference and picked 7. Apparently two other people thought the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/9 "2010-03-11T21:57:29Z")
I didn’t read the OP carefully enough, looked at the results first, and picked a number that made the bell closer to symmetrical. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/10 "2010-03-11T22:03:26Z")
Gut feeling - went with 5 just because. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/11 "2010-03-11T22:29:50Z")
I picked 7 because I’ve read that it’s the number most commonly selected in “Pick a number from 1 to 10” games. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/12 "2010-03-11T23:12:34Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I figured that most people would select something in the middle, so I should probably select something on the end to taper off the bell. Same thing I thought when I picked one. There seem to be at least six of us thinking this way so far, with three each for one and nine. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/13 "2010-03-11T23:29:46Z")
Alright, all you seveners need to knock it off. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/14 "2010-03-11T23:31:50Z")
I picked 3 because we are in the third month. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/15 "2010-03-11T23:35:47Z")
Rather than trying to guess what everyone else would do, I decided to take an approach that, if everyone followed it, would naturally produce a bell curve: I rolled dice. Specifically, I did (3d6)/2, rounded down, which got me a 4. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/16 "2010-03-11T23:54:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Rather than trying to guess what everyone else would do, I decided to take an approach that, if everyone followed it, would naturally produce a bell curve: I rolled dice. Specifically, I did (3d6)/2, rounded down, which got me a 4. That was my first inclination, too. But then I decided to take a second-order approach–I would pick a number that is likely to be picked less than its proper normal distribution would demand. I figured most people would pick either the center, with a few (but far more than should) picking the ends. So I decided to pick something just off-center, because it should have high weight, but most people who’d go towards the center would pick the center. I picked 4, also. 😃 Current distribution: 1 3 6.00% 2 2 4.00% 3 3 6.00% 4 8 16.00% 5 16 32.00% 6 6 12.00% 7 8 16.00% 8 1 2.00% 9 3 6.00% Seems to support my gut feeling of where people would go. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/17 "2010-03-12T00:38:34Z")
I picked 5 because I know that the SDMB has a lot of people who think they’re all special unique snowflakes and would want to express that with an extremity pick, and the curve would need more people in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/18 "2010-03-12T02:01:06Z")
Figuring that people are terrible at this sort of thing, I decided to make my contribution pure, in terms of expected value. So I came up with a bell-curve shaped distribution of numbers 1-100 (a plurality being assigned to “5,” the second largest amount assigned to “4” and “6,” etc.), then had a random number generator spit out a result. It gave me **93** , which corresponded to a **7** (94 would’ve been an 8, 99 would be a 9). ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/19 "2010-03-12T03:53:18Z")
6 seems to be the bastard child so far, and is feeling sad that 7 is more popular and 9 is over-picked. ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/20 "2010-03-12T05:57:04Z")
I went with 3 because I had a feeling either people would pick the very middle or the ends. I went a little outside the middle to flesh out the bell. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137.md?page=2)