Suppose you had five sticks of length 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 inches. If you chose three at random, what is the likelihood tht the three sticks could be put together, tip to tip, so as to form a triangle?

Now suppose you had twenty sticks, of lengths 1 through 20 inches. If you picked three at random, what is the likelihood that the three could be put together, tip to tip, to form a right triangle?

(Assume that a triangle has to have some area)

(In reply to re: A Potential Solution by Dan)

First of all... you only have 5 sticks... there are only 10 different pairs you can just pick up...
1,2,3 1,3,4 2,3,4 3,4,5
1,2,4 1,3,5 2,3,5
1,2,5 1,4,5 2,4,5

The only measurement up there that makes a right triangle is 3,4,5... the odds of picking all 3 up are 1 out of 10.

Posted by Kimberly on 2003-11-05 23:17:34