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A needle of lengthlis dropped at random onto a sheet of paper ruled with parallel lines a distancelapart. What is the probability that the needle will cross a line?

Short Answer

Expert verified

The probability that the needle will cross a line is 2/Ï€ which is equal to 0.63662.

Step by step solution

01

Define the Schrodinger equation

  • A differential equation that describes matter in quantum mechanics in terms of the wave-like properties of particles in a field.
  • Its answer is related to a particle's probability density in space and time.
02

Determine the probability of x

The probability of crossing is

P=P(y)P(x)

Where y and x are some parameters that we will use.

Suppose that the distance between the end of the needle that have a hole and the the closest line to it to bey , so that yhave the interval between 0 and 1 (i.e., l ), and the projection along some direction x is in the interval between -l and l (i.e., -l≤x≤l).

The condition of crossing a line that is above is x+y≥l(i.e., x≥l-y).

Where the condition of crossing line that is below is x+y≤0(i.e., x≤-y).

So, for a given value if y the probability of crossing (by make usage of problem 1.12 is

role="math" localid="1658552457032" P(x)=∫-l-yp(x)dx+∫l-ylp(x)dx=∫-l-y1πl2-x2dx+∫l-yl1πl2-x2dx=1πsin-1xl-l-y+sin-1xll-yl=1π-sin-1yl+2sin-1(1)-sin-1l-ylP(x)=1ππ-sin-1yl-sin-1l-yl...(1)

03

Determine the probability of the needle cross the line

Now, using the normalizing condition we can find ÒÏ(y), where it is equal to 1/l because all the values of y are equally likely.

Thus eq. (1) become,

localid="1658553112340" Pcrossing=1π∫0lπ-sin-1yl-sin-1l-yldy=1π∫0lπ-sin-1yldy

To integrate the second term of the integrand we use integration by parts, so we get

localid="1658552944578" Pcrossing=1πlπl-2ysin-1yl+l1-y2l20l=1-1+2π=2π

Therefore, the probability that the needle will cross a line is 2/Ï€which is equal to (approximately) 0.63662.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Consider the Gaussian distribution

ÒÏ(x)=Ae−λ(x−a)2

where A, a, and λ are positive real constants. (Look up any integrals you need.)

(a) Use Equation 1.16 to determine A.

(b) Find〈x〉,〈x2〉,and σ.

(c) Sketch the graph of ÒÏ(x).

We consider the same device as the previous problem, but this time we are interested in thex-coordinate of the needle point-that is, the "shadow," or "projection," of the needle on the horizontal line.

(a) What is the probability density ÒÏ(x)? Graph data-custom-editor="chemistry" ÒÏ(x) as a function of x, from -2rto +2r , where ris the length of the needle. Make sure the total probability is . Hint: data-custom-editor="chemistry" ÒÏ(x)dx is the probability that the projection lies between data-custom-editor="chemistry" xand data-custom-editor="chemistry" (x+dx). You know (from Problem 1.11) the probability that data-custom-editor="chemistry" θ is in a given range; the question is, what interval data-custom-editor="chemistry" dxcorresponds to the interval data-custom-editor="chemistry" »åθ?

(b) Compute data-custom-editor="chemistry" <x>, data-custom-editor="chemistry" <x2>, and data-custom-editor="chemistry" σ, for this distribution. Explain how you could have obtained these results from part (c) of Problem 1.11.

Consider the first 25 digits in the decimal expansion of π (3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, . . .).

(a) If you selected one number at random, from this set, what are the probabilities of getting each of the 10 digits?

(b) What is the most probable digit? What is the median digit? What is the average value?

(c) Find the standard deviation for this distribution.

For the distribution of ages in the example in Section 1.3.1:

(a) Compute⟨j2⟩ and⟨j⟩2 .

(b) Determine ∆j for each j, and use Equation 1.11 to compute the standard deviation.

(c) Use your results in (a) and (b) to check Equation 1.12.

A particle of mass m is in the state:

ψ(x,t)=Ae−a[(mx2/h)+it]

where A and a are positive real constants.

(a) Find A.

(b) For what potential energy function, V(x), is this a solution to the Schrödinger equation?

(c) Calculate the expectation values of x,x2 , p, andp2 .

(d) Find σx and σp. Is their product consistent with the uncertainty principle?

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