Why does a Galton board explain the normal distribution? It seem that the distribution is more of a function of where the beads are dropped than showing a reversion to the mean

Question

It seems like the tendency for the beads to cluster around the middle is mostly because they were dropped right above the middle. If you move the funnel to either side, then the distribution will be correspondingly skewed.

For anyone who is not familiar with a Galton board: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galton_board](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galton_board)

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In: 5

Answer 1

In extension to the other answers: if you want a board where the average is different from the dropping point, take one where the pins of each consecutive row are not next rows is not centered, but off from the middle. As long as it is off in a consistent way (say always 1mm to the left), you still get the results it is used to demonstrate.