A Table on Screen

The physics in this course runs in metres and seconds: gravity is 9.81 m/s², and a ball weighs 0.17 kg. Before any ball moves, the table has to be built in the same units, and a camera has to find it.

Metres and a 9-foot table

A 9-foot table's bed is 100 by 50 inches, 2.54 by 1.27 m, and a ball is 2¼ inches across, 57.15 mm (the WPA's table rules). The bed is twice as long as it is wide, so it fits a wide window well and an upright phone badly. For a field of 2.8 by 1.5 m, about the table and its rails, the camera stands 2.85 m above a 16:9 window and 8.68 m above an upright phone.