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Exactly one overlap between two random circle arcs

Question

On the unit circle, draw a red arc that starts at the point (1,0)(1,0) and runs counterclockwise through an angle θ1∼Unif(0,2π)\theta_1\sim\text{Unif}(0,2\pi). Independently pick α,θ2∼Unif(0,2π)\alpha,\theta_2\sim\text{Unif}(0,2\pi) and draw a blue arc that starts at angle α\alpha (measured counterclockwise from (1,0)(1,0)) and runs counterclockwise through an angle θ2\theta_2, wrapping past (1,0)(1,0) if necessary. Wherever the arcs overlap the colour is purple. Assuming some purple appears, how likely is it that the purple part forms a single connected piece?

Short answer

4/54/5. Rescale angles to [0,1)[0,1). The arcs miss each other with probability 16\tfrac16, and they overlap in two separate pieces exactly when the blue arc starts inside the red one and wraps past (1,0)(1,0), i.e. α<θ1\alpha<\theta_1 and α+θ2>1\alpha+\theta_2>1, which has probability ∫01x(1−x) dx=16\int_0^1 x(1-x)\,dx=\tfrac16. So P(one piece∣overlap)=2/35/6=45P(\text{one piece}\mid\text{overlap})=\tfrac{2/3}{5/6}=\tfrac45.

Adapted from QuantQuestions.io; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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