Copyright © University of Cambridge. All rights reserved.

'Reaction Timer Timer' printed from https://nrich.maths.org/

Show menu


The timer gives us our reaction time, but tells us nothing about the random process it implements. One way to find how long the shape disappears for would be to use a stopwatch and click after a known interval. Provided this interval is big enough, subtracting the reaction time will give us the time from the shape's disappearence to its reappearance.

Carry this out a number of times and plot your data. What does the distribution look like? Does your experimental evidence support a conjecture for how the random process works?


Alexander from Wesley College thinks that he observed a difference between the reflexes for left and right hands. We wonder if this could be used to test people who claim to be ambidextrous?

I think that beause I'm right handed, when the star appeared or the moon I found I had an instant reflex. But when I used my left hand I had to think about it because I'm right handed. All up its about reflex.