Pascal's barrel

Pascal's barrel is about helping with decisions, so it's like thinking about all of the good and bad parts of something. Imagine a big wooden barrel (like the kind used to make vinegar or wine). Imagine that this barrel has a lot of little cans inside it that can be filled with either good things or bad things about something. Every time you pour something into a can, it adds up to make that decision better or worse. So, for example, if you have a decision to make about going on a trip, you might fill some of the cans with the good things: like seeing new places and the chance to make new memories. And you might fill other cans with the bad things like the cost and the fact that you might get homesick. Then you can decide if the good things outweigh the bad. That's what Pascal's barrel is all about.