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jmc

counting and probability senior

Problem

2 diagonals of a regular heptagon (a 7-sided polygon) are chosen. What is the probability that they intersect inside the heptagon?
Solution
There are pairs of points in the heptagon, and all but 7 (the sides of the heptagon) are diagonals, which means there are 14 diagonals. So there are pairs of diagonals. Any four points on the heptagon uniquely determine a pair of intersecting diagonals. (If vertices are chosen, where is a convex quadrilateral, the intersecting pair of diagonals are and .) So the number of sets of intersecting diagonals is the number of combinations of 4 points, which is . So the probability that a randomly chosen pair of diagonals intersect is .
Final answer
\dfrac{5}{13}