How is math used in billiards?
In all honesty, saying that geometry is all there is to billiards, is nothing more than fraudulent. It is a combination of math, true, geometry, physics, etc… The way it is played relies heavily on the conditions that relate to the table, as an example… According to the theory of dividing the angle, hitting the cueball from the corner pocket to the second diamond on the long rail, should pocket the cueball in the side, but… if you hit it too hard, the cueball will impact the cushion with such a force, that it will be drove into the cushion, slightly, causing the rebound angle to be narrower than planned. If the cueball is hit too softly, the rebound angle will be wider, thanks to the phenomenon of “throw”. The environment also has a profound effect on the way a table plays, such as… a higher humidity will cause the table to be damp, therefore creating a more pronounce initial effect of any type of ball action, but will also cause the cueball to lose action sooner, due to an inc
In the most ideal treatment of billiards, it is strictly geometry and basic physics. The geometry will tell you what path the balls will travel along after they collide (tangent line) and after they bounce off a cushion (angles of incidence and reflection). You can also calculate the angle you need to hit a ball to get it in the pocket by drawing triangles. There’s a lot more advanced stuff, but I’ll let you work that out for your own grade.
The two most important elements in billiards, or pool, are geometry and physics. Geometry comes into play because a pool table can be broken down into quadrants by intersecting lines running from the diamonds, or dots, to other diamonds on the table. Angles come into play when shooting a bank-shot, or calculating position. Physics is involved in the game of pool because of speed, spin, inertia, and other things that have to do with how you contact the cue-ball, how the cue-ball contacts another ball, and how the cue-ball and other balls carom(bounce) off the rails. Other physics properties come into play,also, like squirt, throw, friction, momentum, slide, etc.
