English

Pick-up Sticks and the General Fibonacci Numbers

Probability 2026-04-21 v1

Abstract

In the article by Edward et al. \cite{Sudbury2025}, it was shown that the probability that no three sticks randomly chosen from the unit interval can form a triangle equals the reciprocal of the product of the first nn Fibonacci numbers. The authors further suggested a generalization to higher (k+1)(k+1)-gons (k4)(k\ge 4). This note proves that, indeed, for any k2k\ge 2, the probability that no k+1k+1 of nn independent uniform [0,1][0,1] lengths can form a (k+1)(k+1)-gon is expressed as a product whose factors involve a kk-step Fibonacci-type recurrence. The method follows closely the original argument of \cite{Sudbury2025}, while making ex

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.18073,
  title  = {Pick-up Sticks and the General Fibonacci Numbers},
  author = {Tian Caolin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.18073},
  year   = {2026}
}