2. Monte Carlo method

Back in the 18th century, the naturalist Buffon proposed calculating the number 1/π using a simple game: consider a parquet floor made up of adjacent slats of width L. A needle, also of length L, was tossed across the floor at random. 0 or 1 was recorded, depending on whether the needle fell on a single slat or straddled two slats. The sum of these recordings divided by the number of throws (i.e. the average) gave an estimate of 1/π.

Throwing a needle on a wooden...