# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/21 "2010-03-12T06:12:47Z")
I went with 6 because 7 is really popular in these things, and I figured 6 would need to be larger to make up for that. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/22 "2010-03-12T10:47:16Z")
We’re doing pretty well, although my contribution didn’t help (9). ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/23 "2010-03-12T11:58:33Z")
I went with 8, figuring the middle was solid and 1 and 9 would be over-represented. Why 8 and not 2? Um, why not? ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/24 "2010-03-12T12:33:15Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I went with 8, figuring the middle was solid and 1 and 9 would be over-represented. Why 8 and not 2? Um, why not? Exact same reasoning I used, but I chose 2 instead of 8. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/25 "2010-03-12T12:36:07Z")
I picked 9 just to be a dick and ruin the results. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/26 "2010-03-12T13:53:45Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > 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. This was my thinking, but I was torn between 5 and 6. I went for 5 because I thought more people would go for 6. Seems I was wrong. ---
**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, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/27 "2010-03-12T17:47:51Z")
Interesting distribution right now: ```auto 1 4 3.88% 2 5 4.85% 3 11 10.68% 4 12 11.65% 5 31 30.10% 6 11 10.68% 7 15 14.56% 8 6 5.83% 9 8 7.77% ``` 5 is getting the right amount of hits, but 4 and 6 are still lagging because people are either choosing 5 or hitting the outlying numbers when they shouldn’t be. Fascinating social experiment. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/28 "2010-03-12T17:52:12Z")
I picked 6. It’s a perfect number after all! ---
**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 13, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/29 "2010-03-13T17:53:24Z")
Can the weekend crowd smooth us out? ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/30 "2010-03-13T21:52:01Z")
I doubt it. This is just the sort of thing people suck at. I think that 1 is a favorite to beat 2, and I wouldn’t be shocked if 3 overtook 4. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/31 "2010-03-14T06:15:31Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > I doubt it. This is just the sort of thing people suck at. I think that 1 is a favorite to beat 2, and I wouldn’t be shocked if 3 overtook 4. And why was 6 scared of 7? Because 789. ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/32 "2010-03-14T12:33:00Z")
I picked 9 because I like it. Apparently 9 is quite the popular number. I wonder what would happen if you reversed the order of numbers in the original poll? ---
**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 14, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/33 "2010-03-14T16:14:21Z")
The graph is giving us a huge middle finger at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![twhitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@twhitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twhitt)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/34 "2010-03-14T18:46:46Z")
My gut feeling was 7, then I remembered that that’s a terrible way to generate a bell curve. After thinking for a moment, I figured I should probably select 4, 5 or 6. I also figured 5 may be overrepresented, and I picked 4 over 6 just 'cus. Seems I got lucky. ```auto 1 5 3.25% 2 8 5.19% 3 14 9.09% *4* 18 11.69% 5 47 30.52% 6 19 12.34% 7 21 13.64% 8 9 5.84% 9 13 8.44% ``` ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/35 "2010-03-14T19:16:43Z")
There would be a significantly better shot at getting a real bell curve if you asked for Dopers’ heights. Not weights. Heights. (They’d be more likely to lie about weight.) Having the objective stated in the OP and then nothing to select from but a set of 9 numbers is almost certain to fail. Folks will go out of their way to be different, especially if they know the first thing about bell curves. Other processes that should yield a bell curve: – hours of sleep per day – hours of TV watching per week – dollars spent on food per week – number of movies watched per month ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/36 "2010-03-14T19:30:52Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Having the objective stated in the OP and then nothing to select from but a set of 9 numbers is almost certain to fail. I think that’s kind of the point of the exercise. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/37 "2010-03-14T19:36:39Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > I think that’s kind of the point of the exercise. I guess I misread the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/38 "2010-03-14T19:52:30Z")
Well, the possibility of failure is what makes it a game. Asking a boring question that is basically guaranteed to give a bell curve is pretty dull. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/39 "2010-03-15T21:33:15Z")
I picked 9 because I am an anarchist and wish to disrupt your experiment. ---
**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 15, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137/40 "2010-03-15T21:38:15Z")
Why so much love for 9 as opposed to 1? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-a-bell-curve/532137.md?page=3)