Problem - 2513
Joe breaks a $10$-meter long stick into three shorter sticks. Find the probability that these three sticks can form a triangle.
This is a typical geometric probability problem. The answer is $\boxed{\frac{1}{4}}$.
Let $x$ and $y$ be the lengths of the first two sticks, respectively. Then the length of the third stick is $10-x-y$. Therefore we have the possible region defined by:
$$ \begin{cases} 0 < x < 10 \\ 0 < y < 10 \\ 0 < 10 - x - y \end{cases} $$This is shown in the following diagram:
In order to form a triangle, the following relationships must hold:
$$ \begin{cases} x + y > 10 - x - y \\ x + (10-x-y) > y \\ y + (10-x-y) > x \end{cases} $$These define three boundary conditions:
$$ \begin{cases} x + y =5 \\ y = 5 \\ x = 5 \end{cases} $$Therefore, the qualified region shaded below shows the final answer as $\frac{1}{4}$.