Contains the center? 2

Probability Level pending

Choose five points randomly and uniformly on a circle. Let these points be the vertices of a pentagon. What is the probability that the center of the circle lies in this pentagon?


The answer is 0.686.

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1 solution

Arjen Vreugdenhil
Dec 19, 2017

The solution is identical to the one I posted for Contains the Center 1 .

Call the given points P 1 , , P 5 P_1, \dots, P_5 .

In order for the center of the circle not to lie in the quadrilateral, there must be an arc of more than 18 0 180^\circ without points. Let P a P_a be the point immediately after this long arc in clockwise direction. The other four points then lie within 18 0 180^\circ , or half a circle, clockwise from P a P_a . The probability that they do so is 1 2 \tfrac12 for each point, or ( 1 2 ) 4 = 1 16 (\tfrac12)^4 = \tfrac1{16} combined.

That first point P a P_a may be any of the five chosen points. Therefore the total probability that the center of the circle does not lie in the quadrilateral is 5 × 1 16 = 5 16 5 \times \tfrac1{16} = \tfrac5{16} .

The probability that the center of the circle does lie inside the quadrilateral is the complement, 1 11 16 = 7 16 0.6875 1 - \tfrac{11}{16} = \tfrac7{16} \approx \boxed{0.6875} .

I think you've ment 11/16

Roberto Gomide - 3 years, 1 month ago

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