Buffon's Triangle -- A Variant of the Buffon Needle Method for a Probabilistic Determination of the Value of Pi

Abstract

I present a variant of the Buffon Needle method for determination of the value of the mathematical constant, pi. The original method is based on the random casting of a needle of length l onto a planked floor of plank width L. The described variant involves the random casting of an equilateral triangle with side length l onto a tiled floor consisting of square tiles of side width L. Source code for the computer simulation of this method is provided.