The Canadian Mathematics Teacher – Volume 2
1983
Publication of the Mathematics Council of The Alberta Teachers’ Association
24 – 25
The Broken-Stick Problem for Four Pieces – A Geometric Solution
Diane Johnson
Consider the problem: A stick of length 1 is broken into four pieces. What is the probability that the four pieces can be joined to form a quadrilateral? (Assume that the three points of breakage are independent random variables, each uniformly distributed on the interval [O, l]. In this solution of the problem, the sample space is represented as a region in three-dimensional space.
