Random circle lying fully inside a square
Question
Take a square with side . Pick a point uniformly at random inside it to be the centre of a circle, and independently choose the radius uniformly from . What is the probability that the circle does not touch or cross the boundary of the square?
Short answer
. For radius , the centre must lie at least from every side, i.e. in a concentric square of side , with probability . Averaging over uniform on gives .
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Open the worked solutionLessons behind this question
- Continuous Random Variables and Probability Density Functions
- Conditional Probability, Total Probability, and Bayes' Rule
- Worked Examples — Probability Trees, Monty Hall, and Bayesian Updating
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