Two points within the Arctic Circle are chosen at random, using a uniform distribution over the entire area. That is, any region of a given area is as likely as any other region with that area, to receive a given point.
What is the expected value of their great circle distance from each other?
Assume:
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The Earth is a perfect sphere with radius 3,958.8 miles.
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The Arctic Circle is located at 66.55° North.
Both calculus answers and simulation answers are welcome. As we are using approximations here, especially about the perfect sphericity of the Earth, the exactness of calculus is not really needed.
Part 2:
... and how about two points on the whole Earth?
(In reply to
soln by Steven Lord)
Steven:
Not sure where you went wrong, but shouldn't the part 2 answer be 1/4 of a great circle, which is exactly 10,000 km? Maybe the selection method did not give all points an equal chance of being selected?
Edited on October 21, 2022, 6:15 pm
re: soln
