A problem posted by Souradeep Purkayastha

Christian Salas January 9, 2012

Introduction

The following interesting problem was posted by Souradeep Purkayastha on a facebook Mathematics page on 8 January 2012: If we select a, b, c at random from the interval (0, 1), what is the probability that ax2 + bx + c = 0 will have real roots?

Solution

We assume a, b and c are from independent Uniform(0, 1) distributions.

Using the diagram above, we obtain the following probability that the quadratic equation will have real roots, as a function of b: b2 P (b > 4ac) = P ac < 4
2

b2 b 2 b2 = ln(b) + ln(2) 4 2 2

For example, if b = 1/2, the probability that the quadratic equation will have real roots is 0.2358. What I did in order to get this expression in terms of b was to calculate the proportion of the unit square (with sides corresponding to a and c) for 2 which ac < b4 . This proportion is the required probability as a function of b and is the unshaded area in the unit square in the diagram above. The shaded area in the top right hand corner of the square consists of all points 2 such that ac > b4 . The boundary curve between the shaded and unshaded 2 areas of the unit square is the set of points such that ac = b4 , and therefore b2 has equation a = 4c . The area of the unshaded part of the unit square in the diagram is then b2 + 4
1 b2 /4

b2 b2 b2 dc = ln 4c 4 4

b2 4

b2 b2 b2 ln(b) + ln(2) = 4 2 2

which is the expression for P (b2 > 4ac) given above. If we now integrate this expression with respect to b from 0 to 1 using integration by parts for the 2 term b2 ln(b) we get
1 0

b2 b2 b2 1 1 1 ln(b) + ln(2) db = + + ln(2) = 0.2544 4 2 2 12 18 6

which is the required solution to the problem.