Re: [Phys-L] Ex: Re: question

[John Mallinckrodt <ajm@cpp.edu>]

In the spirit of the question, I would assume that all places would have equal 
probability of being the drop point.

Unlike some O of M questions, this one has a pretty definite answer and it 
involves an easily written double integral that would need to be performed 
numerically. I won’t attempt it, but will opine that 50 miles *feels* a little 
too small and 100 miles *feels* way too large  a little too large.

One must keep in mind that most of the area is taken up by the bigger states.

> On May 15, 2023, at 7:39 AM, Chuck Britton via Phys-l 
> <phys-l@mail.phys-l.org> wrote:
>
> My dim memories are that the answer depends strongly on how the ‘random’ 
> place is chosen. A random angle and radius from a given center will give a 
> different answer than will a random latitude and longitude.
>
>> On May 15, 2023, at 10:25 AM, Anthony Lapinski via Phys-l 
>> <phys-l@mail.phys-l.org> wrote:
>>
>> I heard about this recently:
>>
>> If you were dropped at a random place in the continental USA, how far would
>> it be to the nearest state border?
>>
>> Hmmm. Tough question! A Fermi question. I did some searching for state
>> areas, perimeters, and centers to get some ideas. Wondering if others can
>> share some insights.
>>
>> --
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