Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T06:01:02.340Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The number of intersections of random chords to a circle — third and fourth moments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2016

John Gates*
Affiliation:
Thames Polytechnic
*
Postal address: School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computing, Thames Polytechnic, Wellington St., London SE18 6PF, U.K.

Abstract

In this paper the distributions of the number of intersections of three, four and five random chords to a circle are obtained by a reduction technique employing Ptolemy's theorem. These results are then used to obtain the skewness and kurtosis of the number of intersections of n random chords to a circle.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Applied Probability Trust 1982 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

[1] David, F. N. and Fix, E. (1964) Intersections of random chords of a circle. Biometrika 51, 373379.Google Scholar
[2] Janson, S. (1978) On random divisions of a convex set. J. Appl. Prob. 15, 645649.Google Scholar
[3] Santalo, L. A. (1976) Integral Geometry and Geometrical Probability. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.Google Scholar
[4] Solomon, H. S. (1978) Geometric Probability. SIAM, Philadephia, PA.Google Scholar
[5] Sulanke, R. (1965) Schnittpunkte zufälliger Geraden. Arch. Math. 16, 320324.Google Scholar