This pattern can be describe by stating how many throws later each ball is caught. For instance, on the first throw in the diagram, the purple ball is thrown in the air (up out of the screen, towards the bottom left) by the right hand, next the blue ball, the green ball, the green ball again, and the blue ball again and then finally the purple ball is caught and thrown by the left hand on the fifth throw, this gives the first throw a count of "5". This produces a sequence of numbers which denote the height of each throw to be made. Since hands alternate, odd-numbered throws send the ball to the other hand, while even-numbered throws send the ball to the same hand. A "3" represents a throw to the opposite hand at the height of the basic three-cascade; a "4" represents a throw to the same hand at the height of the four-fountain, and so on.