The infinite variability of pool

[Steve B]

I have had the thought that no two games of pool in history (so far, anyway)
have been EXACTLY the same.

I delve into math, and had this idea one day. I guess that could be said of
all games involving a ball, though.

Steve

[ernie]

Since you "delve into math," far more interesting is the mathematical
fact that the exponentially huge result of 16 balls (15 OBs and the
CB) multiplied by themselves, multiplied by the number of square
millimeters on a regulation 9 footer yields a number of possible table
layouts which greatly exceeds the recent cosmologically-deduced
estimate of the total stars in the known Universe.

That newest estimate of stars is a function of 120 billion estimated
galaxies multiplied by an average 100 billion stars in each galaxy.
(Every human on Earth could have 20 galaxies of their own and their
own two trillion stars.)

The figure of 120 billion probable galaxies in the Universe was
extrapolated from the latest Hubble Ultra Deep Field image which
revealed 10,000 visible galaxies in the farthest dark and distant
region of the Universe thus far telescopically penetrated -- more than
13 billion light years away from us. These galaxies are seen in a
segment of space no larger than a grain of sand held at arm’s length,
representing only one thirteen-trillionth of the total night sky.

Here below is the Hubble image showing the 10,000 galaxies in just
that tiny speck of the night sky (as they were 13 billion years ago,
and frustratingly barely visible in my 12-inch reflector):

http://www.skyimagelab.com/ultra-deep-field.html

Ernie