Triangle measures

Pick out randomly 3 card numbers from a box which includes card numbers 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . , 100 1, 2, 3,..., 100 . What is the probability that these 3 numbers can make 3 side lengths of a triangle?

95/132 55/236 65/132 85/132

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1 solution

Otto Bretscher
Nov 28, 2018

Let T n T_n be the number of all triples a , b , c a,b,c of integers with 1 a b c 2 n 1\leq a \leq b \leq c \leq 2n that can make the side lengths of a triangle (which simply means that a + b > c a+b>c ). Examining the cases c = 2 n + 1 c=2n+1 and c = 2 n + 2 c=2n+2 and doing a little counting, we find the recursion T n + 1 = n ( 2 n 1 ) + T n T_{n+1}=n(2n-1)+T_{n} , so that T 50 = n = 1 49 n ( 2 n 1 ) = 49 × 50 ( 33 0.5 ) T_{50}=\sum_{n=1}^{49}n(2n-1)=49\times 50(33-0.5) . Expressed as a proportion of all ordered triples, ( 100 3 ) {100}\choose {3} , the answer is 49 × 50 × 195 100 × 99 × 98 = 65 132 \frac{49\times 50\times 195}{100\times 99 \times 98}=\boxed{\frac{65}{132}} .

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