Problem:
Let be an equilateral triangle with height , and let be its center. Point is chosen at random from all points inside . Given that the circle of radius centered at lies entirely inside , what is the probability that this circle contains ?
Problem:
Let be an equilateral triangle with height , and let be its center. Point is chosen at random from all points inside . Given that the circle of radius centered at lies entirely inside , what is the probability that this circle contains ?
Solution:
The set of points such that the circle of radius centered at lies entirely inside is itself a triangle, , such that is parallel to , is parallel to , and is parallel to , and furthermore and , and , and and are all unit apart. We can use this to calculate that is an equilateral triangle with height , and hence has area .
On the other hand, the set of points such that the circle of radius centered at contains is a circle of radius , centered at , and hence has area .
The probability that the circle centered at contains given that it also lies in is then the ratio of the two areas, that is,