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How to play the triangle game
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 February 2017
Extract
We are given n sticks of lengths 1, 2, 3, …, n and three are selected at random. Which selections enable a triangle to be formed?
This question can be written in the form of a game: you win if a triangle can be formed from the three numbers interpreted as side lengths, you lose if they do not.
We let ℕn = {1, 2, 3, …, n}, and see there are two variants of the game:
• From ℕn draw at random three numbers sequentially. At each stage do not replace the drawn number.
• From ℕn a number is drawn at random and is recorded. In three stages three numbers are drawn. Replace the number at each stage.
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