Related papers: On the probability of forming polygons from a brok…
Let a stick be broken at random at n-1 points to form n pieces. We consider three problems on forming k-gons with k out of these n pieces, and show how a statistical approach, through a linear transformation of variables, yields simple…
We propose a discrete approach to solve problems on forming polygons from broken sticks, which is akin to counting polygons with sides of integer length subject to certain Diophantine inequalities. Namely, we use MacMahon's Partition…
A full solution to the recently proposed problem of determining the probability that no $k$-gon can be built from $n$ independently and uniformly chosen sticks in $[0,1]$ is proposed. This extends the known results for triangles and…
We use the idea of the broken stick problem (which goes back to Poincare) and calculate the corresponding probabilities for the cases in which the three broken part are: the medians in a triangle, the altitudes, radii of excircles, angle…
We present a variation of the broken stick problem in which $n$ stick lengths are sampled uniformly at random. We prove that the probability that no three sticks can form a triangle is the reciprocal of the product of the first $n$…
Regard the closed interval $[0,1]$ as a stick. Partition $[0,1]$ into $n+1$ different intervals $I_1, \ \dots \ , I_{n+1},$ where $n \geq 2,$ which represent smaller sticks. The classical Broken Stick problem asks to find the probability…
We present two complementary proofs that, if the lengths of $n$ sticks are sampled at random, then the probability that no $p+1$ sticks can form a $(p+1)$-sided polygon can be expressed as the product of the reciprocals of a series of terms…
There is well-known problem of geometric probability which can be quote as the Broken Spaghetti Problem. It addresses the following question: A stick of spaghetti breaks into three parts and all points of the stick have the same probability…
The broken stick problem is the following classical question. You have a segment $[0,1]$. You choose two points on this segment at random. They divide the segment into three smaller segments. Show that the probability that the three…
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 $n$ Fibonacci numbers.…
Inspired by the Japanese game Pachinko, we study simple (perfectly "inelastic" collisions) dynamics of a unit ball falling amidst point obstacles (pins) in the plane. A classic example is that a checkerboard grid of pins produces the…
If a line cuts randomly two sides of a triangle, the length of the segment determined by the points of intersection is also random. The object of this study, applied to a particular case, is to calculate the probability that the length of…
The stick number of a knot is the minimum number of segments needed to build a polygonal version of the knot. Despite its elementary definition and relevance to physical knots, the stick number is poorly understood: for most knots we only…
The probability of a random polygon (or a ring polymer) having a knot type $K$ should depend on the complexity of the knot $K$. Through computer simulation using knot invariants, we show that the knotting probability decreases exponentially…
We compute the number of triangulations of a convex $k$-gon each of whose sides is subdivided by $r-1$ points. We find explicit formulas and generating functions, and we determine the asymptotic behaviour of these numbers as $k$ and/or $r$…
We consider the probability of knotting in equilateral random polygons in Euclidean 3-dimensional space, which model, for instance, random polymers. Results from an extensive Monte Carlo dataset of random polygons indicate a universal…
This is a study of the construction of particular regular sub-n-gons T in regular n-gons P using a special system of chords of P. In particular, some of these sub-n-gons have areas which are integer divisors of the area of the given n-gon…
Polygonal slap maps are piecewise affine expanding maps of the interval obtained by projecting the sides of a polygon along their normals onto the perimeter of the polygon. These maps arise in the study of polygonal billiards with…
Suppose an interval is put on a horizontal line with random roughness. With probability one it is supported at two points, one from the left, and another from the right from its center. We compute probability distribution of support points…
We consider the classical one-dimensional random walk of a particle on the right-half real line. We assume that the particle is initially at position x=k, k > 0, and moves to the right with probability p or to the left with probability 1-p.…