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Cube Line Picking--Face and Face


Instead of picking two points from the interior of the cube, instead pick two points on different faces of the unit cube. In this case, the average distance between the points is

 Delta_f(3)=4/5int_0^1int_0^1int_0^1int_0^1sqrt(x^2+y^2+(z-w)^2)dwdxdydz+1/5int_0^1int_0^1int_0^1int_0^1sqrt(1+(y-u)^2+(z-w)^2)dudwdydz 
=1/(75)[4+17sqrt(2)-6sqrt(3)+21ln(1+sqrt(2))+42ln(2+sqrt(3))-7pi] 
=0.92639...
(1)

(OEIS A093066; Borwein and Bailey 2003, p. 26; Borwein et al. 2004, pp. 66-67). Interestingly,

 Delta_f(3)=7/5Delta(3),
(2)

as apparently first noted by M. Trott (pers. comm., Mar. 21, 2008).

The two integrals above can be written in terms of sums as

I_1=4/(15)sqrt(2)+2/5ln(sqrt(2)+1)-1/(75)pi+(sqrt(2pi))/5sum_(n=2)^(infty)(_2F_1(1/2,-n+2;3/2;1/2))/((2n+1)Gamma(n+2)Gamma(5/2-n))
(3)
I_2=-2/(25)+1/(50)sqrt(2)+1/(10)ln(sqrt(2)+1)+(sqrt(pi))/(10)sum_(n=0)^(infty)(_4F_3(1,1/2,-1/2-n,-n-1;2,1/2-n,3/2;-1))/((2n+1)Gamma(n+2)Gamma(3/2-n))
(4)

(Borwein et al. 2004, p. 67), where however I_2 appears to be classically divergent and perhaps must be interpreted in some regularized sense.

CubeLinePickingFaceandFaceOpposite

Consider a line whose endpoints are picked at random on opposite sides of the unit cube. The probability density function for the length l of this line is given by

 P(l)={2l[l^2-4sqrt(l^2-1)+pi-1]   for 1<=<sqrt(2); 2l[-l^2+4sqrt(l^2-2)-4sec^(-1)(sqrt(l^2-1))+pi-1]   for sqrt(2)<=l<=sqrt(3)
(5)

(Mathai 1999; after simplification). The mean length is

l^_=1/(15)[3sqrt(2)-4sqrt(3)+4-10ln2+20ln(1+sqrt(3))]+sinh^(-1)1-2/9pi
(6)
=1.14884298....
(7)

The first even raw moments mu_n^' for n=0, 2, 4, ... are 1, 4/3, 167/90, 284/105, 931/225, 9868/1485, ....

CubeLinePickingFaceandFaceAdjacent

Consider a line whose endpoints are picked at random on adjacent sides of the unit cube. The probability density function for the length l of this line is given by

 P(l)={1/2pil^2(2-l)   for 0<=1; 2l[(5/4-l)pi+l^2sec^(-1)l-sqrt(l^2-1)]   for 1<=<sqrt(2); 1/2l[-pil^2+4sqrt(l^2-2)+8ltan^(-1)(lsqrt(l^2-2))-16tan^(-1)(sqrt(l^2-2)) ; -8lcsc^(-1)(sqrt(2(1-l^(-2))))+4(l^2+1)csc^(-1)(sqrt(l^2-1))+3pi-4]   for sqrt(2)<=l<=sqrt(3)
(8)

(Mathai 1999; after simplification). The mean length is

l^_=1/(180)[42sqrt(2)-6sqrt(3)-11pi+504ln2-1008ln(1+sqrt(3))+600ln(2+sqrt(3))+18sinh^(-1)1]
(9)
=0.870776823....
(10)

The first even raw moments mu_n^' for n=0, 2, 4, ... are 1, 5/6, 41/45, 1469/1260, 5/3, 53947/20790, ....


See also

Cube Line Picking, Cube Line Picking--Face and Interior

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References

Borwein, J. and Bailey, D. Mathematics by Experiment: Plausible Reasoning in the 21st Century. Wellesley, MA: A K Peters, 2003.Borwein, J.; Bailey, D.; and Girgensohn, R. Experimentation in Mathematics: Computational Paths to Discovery. Wellesley, MA: A K Peters, 2004.Mathai, A. M.; Moschopoulos, P.; and Pederzoli, G. "Distance between Random Points in a Cube." J. Statistica 59, 61-81, 1999.Sloane, N. J. A. Sequence A093066 in "The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences."

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Cube Line Picking--Face and Face." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/CubeLinePickingFaceandFace.html

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