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Mean distance between two random points on a circle

Question

Choose two points independently and uniformly on the circumference of a circle of radius 11. The expected length of the segment joining them can be written as xπ\dfrac{x}{\pi} with xx rational. What is xx?

Short answer

x=4x=4. By rotation, fix one point; the central angle θ\theta to the other is uniform on [0,2π)[0,2\pi) and the chord is 2sin⁡(θ/2)2\sin(\theta/2). Averaging, 12π∫02π2sin⁡(θ/2) dθ=82π=4π\tfrac{1}{2\pi}\int_0^{2\pi}2\sin(\theta/2)\,d\theta=\tfrac{8}{2\pi}=\tfrac4\pi.

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

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