Pick out randomly 3 card numbers from a box which includes card numbers . What is the probability that these 3 numbers can make 3 side lengths of a triangle?
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Let T n be the number of all triples a , b , c of integers with 1 ≤ a ≤ b ≤ c ≤ 2 n that can make the side lengths of a triangle (which simply means that a + b > c ). Examining the cases c = 2 n + 1 and c = 2 n + 2 and doing a little counting, we find the recursion T n + 1 = n ( 2 n − 1 ) + T n , so that T 5 0 = ∑ n = 1 4 9 n ( 2 n − 1 ) = 4 9 × 5 0 ( 3 3 − 0 . 5 ) . Expressed as a proportion of all ordered triples, ( 3 1 0 0 ) , the answer is 1 0 0 × 9 9 × 9 8 4 9 × 5 0 × 1 9 5 = 1 3 2 6 5 .