The expected distance $d$ of randomly selected points within a unit square to the square's center is
$d = \frac{1}{6} P$
where P is the universal parabolic constant
$P = \sqrt{2} + \ln{\left(1+\sqrt{2}\right)} = 2.2955871 \dots $
see
- http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SquarePointPicking.html
- http://mathworld.wolfram.com/UniversalParabolicConstant.html
Is this a mere coincidence or is there an (intuitive) reason why this constant shows up in the solution to this problem?
Best Answer
The "reason" that the two given numbers are equal is "write up the integrals, they turn out to be the same integral".
An answer that might satisfy the "intuitive reason" criterion is that the sides of the unit square are given by axis-aligned straight lines; in polar coordinates $r=\frac{1}{cos(t)}$ or $r=\frac{1}{sin(t)}$; and $\frac{1}{cos(t)^2}=\frac{r^2}{r^2cos(t)^2}=\frac{\sqrt{x^2+y^2}}{x^2}$ is the integrand in the integral defining the arc length of the parabolic segment. Truth be told though, this isn't really much more than saying "the integrals turn out to be the same integral", so I'm not sure how much of an "intuitive" explanation this is.