It has become a recurrent habit for me to write a blog on the shape of eggs to wish you a Happy Easter. Not repeating oneself and finding a new interesting topic is a brainstorming exercise of lateral thinking and a systematic search in literature to find an interesting connection. This year, I wanted to explore an idea that has been lurching in my mind for some time for other reasons: billiards.
I used to play snooker from time to time with some old friends. I am a far cry from being even an amateur in the billiard games, but I had a lot of fun verifying the laws of mechanics on a green table. I soon discovered that studying the dynamics of bouncing collision of an ideal cue ball in billiards of different shapes keeps brilliant mathematicians and physicists engaged in recreational academic studies and important theoretical implications.
Continue reading