From Buffon's Needle to Buffon's Noodle
Summary
Mike McCoy's post extends Buffon's needle to Buffon's noodle, showing that the expected number of floorboard crossings for any curve is proportional to its length. The derivation uses linearity of expectation to argue f(L) is linear and then determines the constant by analyzing a circle, yielding c = 2/(πW). The piece emphasizes an intuitive, geometry-driven approach over heavy integrations and includes an interactive widget and references.