Related papers: Computer-aided solution to the $k$-bonacci pick-up…
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 $n$…
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.…
Break a stick at random at $n-1$ points to obtain $n$ pieces. We give an explicit formula for the probability that every choice of $k$ segments from this broken stick can form a $k$-gon, generalizing similar work. The method we use can be…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Consider N equally-spaced points on a circle of circumference N. Choose at random n points out of $N$ on this circle and append clockwise an arc of integral length k to each such point. The resulting random set is made of a random number of…
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 $r$…
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…
Consider the coupon collector problem where each box of a brand of cereal contains a coupon and there are n different types of coupons. Suppose that the probability of a box containing a coupon of a specific type is $1/n$ and that we keep…
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…
We generalize the well-known broken stick problem in several ways, including a discrete "brick" analogue and a sequential "pick-up sticks/bricks" version. The limit behavior of the broken brick problem gives a combinatorial proof of the…
How can a stack of identical blocks be arranged to extend beyond the edge of a table as far as possible? We consider a generalization of this classic puzzle to blocks that differ in width and mass. Despite the seemingly simple premise, we…
Consider the fundamental problem of drawing a simple random sample of size k without replacement from [n] := {1, . . . , n}. Although a number of classical algorithms exist for this problem, we construct algorithms that are even simpler,…
Let $\mathbb{P}_K(n)$ be the probability that $n$ points $z_1,\ldots,z_n$ picked uniformly and independently in $K$, a non-flat compact convex polygon in $\mathbb{R}^2$, are in convex position, that is, form the vertex set of a convex…
The randomized $k$-number partitioning problem is the task to distribute $N$ i.i.d. random variables into $k$ groups in such a way that the sums of the variables in each group are as similar as possible. The restricted $k$-partitioning…
In real applications, there are situations where we need to model some problems based on uncertain data. This leads us to define an uncertain model for some classical geometric optimization problems and propose algorithms to solve them. In…