When rotated on its axis, the 6,000 steel beads cascade through rows of symmetrically placed hexagons in the Galton Board. When the device is level, each bead bounces off the hexagons with equal probability of moving to the left or right. As the beads settle into the bins at the bottom of the board, they accumulate to approximate a bell-shaped histogram. Printed on the lower part of the board is the normal distribution or bell curve, along with the average and standard deviation lines relative to that distribution. The bell curve, also known as the Gaussian distribution (Carl Friedrich Gauss, 1777-1855), is important in statistics and probability theory.