Three points are chosen randomly, uniformly, and independently on the circumference of a circle.
If there is a probability that the triangle formed by the three points has an obtuse angle that is greater or equal to , what is (in degrees)?
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Let A , B , and C be the points on the circle and let O be the center of the circle. Then without loss of generality, the points can be rotated so that A is on the positive x -axis. Then let x be the central angle between A and B and y be the central angle between A and C . Then both x and y are such that 0 ≤ x < 3 6 0 ° and 0 ≤ y < 3 6 0 ° .
△ A O B , △ B O C , and △ A O C are isosceles triangles because each have two sides that are radii of the circle.
If y > x , the base angles of these triangles are 9 0 ° − 2 x , 9 0 ° − 2 y + 2 x , and 9 0 ° − 2 y , which makes ∠ B A C = 2 y − x , ∠ A B C = 1 8 0 ° − 2 y , and ∠ A C B = 2 x . For any one of these angles to be greater or equal to an obtuse angle α , either 2 y − x ≥ α or y ≥ x + 2 α , 1 8 0 ° − 2 y ≥ α or y ≤ 3 6 0 ° − 2 α , or 2 x ≥ α or x ≥ 2 α , which is shaded in green in the graph below:
By symmetry, if x > y , for any one of these angles to be greater or equal to an obtuse angle α , either y ≤ x − 2 α , x ≤ 3 6 0 ° − 2 α , or y ≥ 2 α , which is shaded in green in the graph below:
Combining these graphs gives a visual representation of all the possible triangles that can be made by three points on the circumference of a circle, with the green regions showing the triangles that have at least one angle that is greater or equal to an obtuse angle α :
The green regions have a combined area A G equivalent to 3 squares with sides of 3 6 0 ° − 2 α , so A G = 3 ( 3 6 0 ° − 2 α ) 2 , and the total area A T is a square with sides of 3 6 0 ° , so A T = 3 6 0 ° 2 . The probability P of the triangle having an obtuse angle that is greater or equal to α is therefore P = A T A G = 3 6 0 ° 2 3 ( 3 6 0 ° − 2 α ) 2 or P = 1 8 0 ° 2 3 ( 1 8 0 ° − α ) 2 , and when P = 1 2 1 , this solves to α = 1 5 0 ° .