23.09.

2019 Captur ng the Or g n w th Random Po nts: General zat ons of a Putnam Problem

College Mathemat cs Journal, 27 (1996) no. 3, 186-192.

Copyr ght
The Mathemat cal Assoc at on of Amer ca

Captur ng the Or g n w th Random Po nts:

General zat ons of a Putnam Problem
Ralph Howard
Department of Mathemat cs
Un vers ty of South Carol na
Columb a SC 29208

and

Paul S sson
Department of Mathemat cs
LSU - Shreveport
Shreveport LA 71115

1 Introduct on
Problem A-6 of the 53rd Putnam Compet t on read as follows:

Four po nts are chosen at random on the surface of a sphere. What s the probab l ty that the
center of the sphere l es ns de the tetrahedron whose vert ces are at the four po nts? (It s
understood that each po nt s ndependently chosen relat ve to a un form d str but on on the
sphere.)

The problem has a geometr c mmed acy that makes t tantal z ng: the tetrahedron so formed s read ly
v sual zed and no great mathemat cal background s necessary to understand the quest on be ng asked.
Further, t s almost mposs ble to res st the urge to general ze the problem. Some of the var ants that spr ng
to m nd qu ckly are:

(1)
Suppose n+1 po nts are chosen at random from the surface of a ball n Rn. What s the probab l ty that
the center of the ball l es ns de the s mplex n Rn whose vert ces are the n+1 po nts ( .e. the convex
hull of the n+1 po nts)?

(2)
Four po nts are chosen at random from w th n a ball n R3 (or n+1 po nts from an n-ball n Rn). What s
the probab l ty that the center of the ball l es w th n the convex hull of the po nts?

(3)
Four po nts are chosen at random from the surface of some other object n R3 (or n+1 po nts from the
surface of some object n Rn). What s the probab l ty that a f xed nter or po nt of the object l es ns de
the convex hull of the four (respect vely, n+1) po nts?

(4)
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More vaguely, assume the act on s centered about the or g n n Rn, and that n+1 po nts are chosen ``at
random'' n Rn. What s the probab l ty that the convex hull of the n+1 po nts conta ns the or g n?

The l st can eas ly be extended, but as quest on (4) demonstrates we have already reached the po nt where the
quest ons need to be more carefully posed.

Desp te the fact that the or g nal Putnam quest on s so eas ly understood, the solut on s (not surpr s ngly)
not arr ved at w th equal ease. Th s sent ment s supported by the fact that 123 of the top 203 scorers on the
Putnam exam subm tted no solut on at all to problem A-6, and a relat vely low number of 9 of the top scorers
rece ved a full 10 po nts for the problem. Th s d ff culty n answer ng such an eas ly grasped problem just
makes t more ntr gu ng, of course, and suggests that the problem and ts general zat ons are worth
nvest gat ng. In th s paper we w ll develop a surpr s ngly s mple answer to quest ons (1) and (2). In add t on,
our result answers rather general forms of quest ons (3) and (4).

In [3], Klos nsk , Alexanderson and Larson offer the follow ng solut on to A-6. Assume the sphere s
centered at the or g n, and that the f rst po nt P0 s located at the north pole of the sphere, w th the three
rema n ng po nts then located at random locat ons on the sphere. We can assume that these rema n ng po nts
are chosen n a two-step process: f rst a d ameter P 1P 2 ( Î {1,2,3}) s f xed and then one of the two end-
po nts {P 1,P 2} s selected as a vertex of the tetrahedron. F gure 1 below llustrates a typ cal or entat on of
the cho ces. The e ght poss ble tetrahedra P0P1j1P2j2P3j3 (w th each j be ng 1 or 2) are equally l kely.
Further, we can assume that the result s an honest tetrahedron and that the or g n does not l e on any face.
(Recall that the plane through three noncoll near po nts P1, P2 and P3 cons sts of all aff ne comb nat ons

® ® ®
a1 P + a2 P + a3 P ,
1 2 3

where a1+a2+a3 = 1. W th probab l ty one, ne ther the fourth vertex nor the or g n l es n the plane through
any three vert ces.)

F gure 1: Typ cal cho ce of vert ces.

In part cular, the four vertex vectors

® ® ® ®
P , P , P and P
0 11 21 31

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must be l nearly dependent, so there ex sts a 4-tuple (w,x,y,z) for wh ch

® ® ® ® ®
0 = w P 0 + x P 11 + y P 21 + z P 31

and for wh ch w,x,y and z are all non-zero. Then s nce

® ®
P 1 =- P 2 ,

the e ght equat ons

® ® ® ® ®
0 = w P 0 + x P 1j + y P 2j + z P 3j
1 2 3

have the solut ons

(w,x,y,z),(w,x,y,-z),(w,x,-y,z),(w,-x,y,z),
(w,x,-y,-z),(w,-x,-y,z),(w,-x,y,-z),(w,-x,-y,-z).

Each po nt n the tetrahedron w th vert ces P0, P1j1, P2j2,P3j3 can be un quely represented as a convex
comb nat on

® ® ® ®
b0 P + b1 P + b2 P + b3 P
0 1j1 2j2 3j3

(where each b ³ 0 and b0 + b1 + b2 +b3 = 1), so the or g n s conta ned n the tetrahedron P0P1j1P2j2P3j3 f
and only f the 4-tuple solv ng the assoc ated vector equat on

® ® ® ® ®
0 = w P 0 + x P 1j + y P 2j + z P 3j
1 2 3

cons sts of four coord nates of the same s gn. S nce only one of the above e ght solut ons has th s property,
only one of the e ght equally l kely tetrahedra conta ns the or g n, and hence the probab l ty that the or g n s
conta ned n the randomly chosen tetrahedron s 1/8.

2 F rst General zat on

So far, so good. Th s solut on general zes n the obv ous way and g ves us the answer of 1/2n to quest on (1)
n the above l st. But what of quest on (2)? The above approach seems nadequate n th s case, s nce po nts
can now be chosen anywhere along the randomly chosen d ameters.

Let us employ one of the standard procedures when faced w th a d ff cult problem: that of chang ng the
problem to someth ng eas er. We w ll attempt f rst to answer quest on (2) n R2. Spec f cally, f three po nts
are chosen at random from the un t d sk B2, what s the probab l ty that the tr angle thus formed conta ns the
or g n? Let us further s mpl fy the problem by assum ng that we are choos ng three po nts at random w th
respect to a probab l ty measure P on B2 wh ch s rotat onally nvar ant ; that s, measures of subsets of B2
are unchanged under rotat onal translat ons. We w ll also cont nue to assume the appropr ate degree of non-
degeneracy of the measure (more on th s n the next sect on).

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S nce we are assum ng rotat onal nvar ance, we can assume that the f rst po nt P1 s f xed between 0 and 1
on the pos t ve x-ax s. W th probab l ty one, the second po nt P2 of the tr angle s not located at the or g n,
and we can form the ray start ng at the or g n and pass ng through P2. Let q be the angle between the pos t ve
x-ax s and th s ray. The quest on can now be posed as a cond t onal probab l ty problem: g ven q, what s the
probab l ty that the th rd po nt P3 def nes a tr angle wh ch conta ns the or g n? Integrat ng th s probab l ty
over all poss ble q's w ll then g ve us the answer we seek.

In order to s mpl fy our work, let us agree upon some notat on. G ven a po nt P n B2 -{(0,0)}, let Q(P)
denote the angle from the pos t ve x-ax s to the ray beg nn ng at the or g n and pass ng through P (see F gure
2). Thus, q1 £ Q(P) £ q2 w ll nd cate that P l es n the sector of B2 def ned by the angles q1 and q2. Let
P(capture) denote the probab l ty that the or g n s captured w th n the tr angle formed by the three po nts P1,
P2 and P3. Thus, the f rst task s to calculate P(capture | Q(P2) = q), for each q Î [0,2p].

F gure 2: Illustrat on of Q(P2) for a typ cal P2.

Suppose f rst that 0 £ q £ p. It s not d ff cult to see that a necessary and suff c ent cond t on for capture s
that p £ Q(P3) £ p+ q. That s, the ray from the or g n to P3 must pass through S1 (the boundary of B2) at a
po nt between p un ts and p+ q un ts, as measured from the pos t ve x-ax s. S nce the length of th s arc s q,
th s cond t onal probab l ty s q/2p, .e. P(capture | Q(P2) = q) = q/2p. S m larly, f p £ q £ 2p, P(capture |
Q(P2) = q) = 1 - q/2p.

We can now approx mate our solut on w th an appropr ate R emann sum. Let { q0, ¼, qn } be a part t on of
[0,2p]. Then

n-1

P(capture) » å P(capture | q £ Q(P2) £ q +1) P(q £ Q(P2) £ q +1)

=0

n-1
Dq
=
å P(capture | q £ Q(P2) £ q +1) 2p
.
=0

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In the l m t of f ner and f ner part t ons, we obta n

2p dq
ó
P(capture) = P(capture | Q(P2) = q)
õ 0
2p
p q dq 2p æ q ö dq
ó ó
= + ç1- ÷
õ0 õ p
2p 2p è 2p ø 2p
= 1/4.

Exam nat on of th s argument shows that we have answered more than we set out to, s nce the fact that P s a
probab l ty measure on B2 s really rrelevant. As long as P s a probab l ty measure on R2 wh ch s
rotat onally nvar ant and su tably non-degenerate, the result s the same. We are already aware of one
consequence of th s: f P s a un formly d str buted probab l ty measure on S1, the method of Klos nsk ,
Alexanderson and Larson tells us that w th probab l ty 1/4 the or g n w ll be conta ned n a randomly chosen
tr angle. We can also beg n to make sense of quest on (4) by not ng that f P s the usual Gauss an probab l ty
measure on all of R2, the probab l ty that three randomly chosen po nts captures the or g n s aga n 1/4.

A related problem n geometr c probab l ty, whose many var ants are dealt w th n [1], [2], [4], [5] and [6], s
to f nd the probab l ty that three po nts chosen at random from a reg on n the plane w ll form an acute
tr angle. One vers on can be eas ly answered here. S nce the or g n s captured by three po nts chosen at
random from the un t c rcle f and only f the three po nts form an acute tr angle, the probab l ty that an acute
tr angle s formed by three po nts chosen at random from S1 s also 1/4.

The results above suggest that under rather general c rcumstances n+1 po nts chosen randomly from a reg on
n Rn wh ch s symmetr c w th respect to the or g n w ll capture the or g n w th probab l ty 1/2n. Our ma n
result g ves cond t ons wh ch guarantee the val d ty of th s conclus on, and thus prov des answers to
quest ons (2), (3) and (4).

3 Second General zat on

We beg n w th a theorem, n wh ch we f nally descr be the amount of non-degeneracy of the measures that
we requ re. We also d scard rotat onal- nvar ance for a weaker cond t on.

Theorem 1 Let Rn be endowed w th a probab l ty measure m wh ch s symmetr c w th respect to the or g n

and such that when n+1 po nts are chosen ndependently w th respect to m, w th probab l ty one the r convex
hull s a s mplex. Then the probab l ty that the or g n s conta ned n the s mplex generated by n+1 such
random po nts s 1/2n.

Recall that a measure m s symmetr c f m(-S) = m(S) for any measurable set S. Also, n+1 po nts x1,x2,¼,xn+1
from Rn are vert ces of a s mplex f and only f none of these po nts l es on a hyperplane conta n ng the other
n po nts. Thus s mplexes n R2 are tr angles and s mplexes n R3 are tetrahedra.

As examples of how the theorem can be appl ed, we could let m be a un formly d str buted probab l ty
measure on a rectangle centered at the or g n n R2, or on the boundary of such a rectangle. In e ther case, f
three po nts are chosen at random w th respect to the measure, the probab l ty that the or g n s conta ned n
the tr angle thus formed s 1/4. In R3, the or g nal Putnam answer of 1/8 appl es to four po nts chosen at
random from a cube, or from the surface of a cube, as well as from the sphere. More generally, let D be any
doma n n Rn w th f n te volume and wh ch s symmetr c w th respect to the or g n. Then the probab l ty that
the or g n s n the convex hull of n+1 po nts chosen un formly and ndependently from D s 1/2n. Note that,
as n F gure 3, t s not necessary for D to conta n the or g n, or even for D to be connected.
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F gure 3: A d sconnected doma n D to wh ch the theorem appl es.

We w ll now proceed w th the proof of the theorem.

Proof: Beg n by def n ng a new probab l ty space W = Rn ×¼×Rn (n+1 factors) w th the product measure
m×¼×m. Let

A = {(x1, ¼, xn+1) Î W | the or g n ofRn s n the convex hull of x1, ¼, xn+1}

For each set of nd ces I Ì {1, ¼, n+1} let

AI = {w Î W | wI Î A},
where for w = (x1,x2,¼,xn+1) we def ne wI = (y1,y2,¼,yn+1) w th

ì -x f ÎI
y =í
î x f Î Ic.
Thus A = AÆ, where Æ s the empty set of nd ces.

Our proof now rests on four observat ons.

()
AI = AIc where Ic s the complement of I n {1,¼, n+1}
( )
AI and AJ are essent ally d sjo nt f J s ne ther I nor Ic
( )
W = È{AI | I Ì {1, ¼, n+1}}
( v)
The sets AI all have equal measure.

To prove ( ), suppose w Î AI, w th w = (x1, x2, ¼, xn+1). Then wI Î A, .e.

,
å b y = ®0
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w th 0 £ b £ 1 for each and åb = 1. But then

®
å b (-y ) = 0 ,

and s nce
ì -x f Î Ic
-y = í
î x f ÎI

t follows that wIc Î A, so w Î AIc. Of course, the same argument shows that AIc Ì AI as well, so AI = AIc.

Next, let x1, ¼, xn+1 be chosen ndependently w th respect to m from Rn, and let w = (x1, ¼, xn+1). Because
of the hypothes s that w th probab l ty one none of the random po nts x s n the hyperplane spanned by the
other n po nts, the or g n has a representat on as an aff ne comb nat on of x1,x2,¼,xn+1 that s almost surely
un que, say

®
0 = åax,
where åa = 1. Thus, except poss bly for w n a set of measure zero n W, the set I = { | a £ 0} for the
above representat on s un quely determ ned by w, and p cks out the set AI = AIc of wh ch w s a member.
Thus observat on ( ) s proved.

Observat on ( ) follows from not ng that for any n+1 randomly chosen po nts x1,x2,¼,xn+1 from Rn, the
zero vector can be expressed as an aff ne comb nat on of these po nts, and the set AI = AIc wh ch conta ns w
= (x1,x2,¼,xn+1) s essent ally un quely determ ned by th s express on. F nally, ( v) follows from the
hypothes s that m s nvar ant under reflect on through the or g n, so that for any ndex set I the mapp ng w®
wI on W that changes the s gns of the coord nates n I preserves the product measure. Th s mapp ng sends AI
onto A, so m(AI) = m(A) for all I.

The ndex set Á = {I | I Ì {1,¼,n+1}} has 2n+1 elements, but AI = AIc so our cla ms show that W can be
wr tten as an essent ally d sjo nt un on of 2n subsets each w th the same measure. Thus each of these subsets
has measure 1/2n. In part cular A has measure 1/2n, complet ng the proof of the theorem. ¨

After d scover ng the above proof, we learned that our result for po nts chosen from the surface of the un t
sphere n Rn could be deduced from a result due to J. G. Wendel and found n [8]. Wendel showed that f N
po nts are chosen at random from the surface of the un t sphere n Rn, the probab l ty that all N po nts l e n
the same hem sphere s g ven by

n-1
æ N-1 ö
pn,N = 2-N+1 å ç
è k
÷.
ø
k=0

If we let N = n+1, then the probab l ty that the or g n s conta ned n the convex hull of n+1 po nts chosen at
random from the un t sphere n Rn s 1 - pn,n+1, wh ch as the reader can ver fy s 1/2n. A referee po nted out
another nterest ngly odd result related to our nvest gat on that can be found on page 124 n [7]: If f ve

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23.09.2019 Captur ng the Or g n w th Random Po nts: General zat ons of a Putnam Problem

po nts are chosen at random from a ball n R3, the probab l ty that one of them s conta ned n the tetrahedron
generated by the other four s 9/143.

The authors are grateful to the ed tor and referees for many useful suggest ons.

References
[1]
G. R. Hall, Acute Tr angles n the n-Ball, J. Appl. Prob., 19 (1982) pp 712-715.

[2]
D. G. Kendall and W. S. Kendall, Al gnments n Two-D mens onal Random Sets of Po nts, Adv. Appl.
Prob., 12 (1980) pp 380-424.

[3]
L.F. Klos nsk , G.L. Alexanderson and L.C. Larson, The F fty-Th rd W ll am Lowell Putnam
Mathemat cal Compet t on, Am. Math. Monthly, 100 (1993) pp 755-767.

[4]
E. Langford, The Probab l ty that a Random Tr angle s Obtuse, B ometr ka, 56 (1969) pp 689-690.

[5]
E. Langford, A problem n Geometr cal Probab l ty, Math Mag., 43 (1970) pp 237-244.

[6]
L. A. Santaló, Integral Geometry and Geometr c Probab l ty, Add son-Wesley, Read ng,
Massachusetts (1976).

[7]
H. Solomon Geometr c Probab l ty, SIAM, Ph ladelph a, Pennsylvan a (1978).

[8]
J. G. Wendel, A Problem n Geometr c Probab l ty, Math. Scand., 11 (1962) pp 109-111.

F le translated from TEX by TTH, vers on 2.32.

On 10 Oct 1999, 13:00.

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