Four points around the centre
Four points are chosen independently and uniformly on the surface of a sphere. Find the probability that the tetrahedron they form contains the centre of the sphere.
Fractions, decimals with at least 3 significant digits, and expressions such as sqrt(2)/2, e^-1 or pi/4.
Choose each point in two stages: first a random line through the centre, then one of its two ends with a fair coin.
Fix the four lines. Of the 16 ways to pick the ends, how many give a tetrahedron that contains the centre?
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s Shown after a correct answer. Revealing it first marks the problem as seen, not solved.
Idea. A uniform point on the sphere is a random diameter plus a fair choice of one of its ends. Fix the four diameters: among the 16 equally likely choices of ends, exactly 2 give a tetrahedron around the centre.
Step 1: two-stage choice. Pick four independent random lines through the centre, with unit direction vectors , then independently a sign for each. The points are four independent uniform points on the sphere.
Step 2: when is the centre inside? The centre is inside the tetrahedron with vertices when with all . Four vectors in space are linearly dependent: with probability 1 there is a single relation , up to scaling, and no is zero.
Step 3: count the signs. With , the relation reads . The centre is inside exactly when all the numbers have the same sign, which happens for exactly 2 of the 16 sign choices: for all , or the opposite for all .
Step 4. So the probability is , whatever the lines are.
In the plane. The same argument with three points on a circle gives for the triangle to contain the centre, which matches from the semicircle problem.