Roll-a-penny probabilities

Abstract

In exploring the probabilities involved in a roll-a-penny game, some properties turned out to be a little more complicated than expected. The main aim here is to find the probability that the player will lose after a certain number of rolls.Suppose we have a board upon which squares are drawn, and that the side of each square is four times the radius of a penny. (In practice, this means that the squares are of side 4 cm.) The first question is, “What is the probability that the penny lands entirely within a square, assuming that the dividing lines are of negligible thickness?”