Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2012/ia/paper-2/10f/ii/solution

The independent uniform distributions give a constant joint probability density on the unit square. For , integrate over :
For the random quadratic with uniform coefficients, real roots require its discriminant to be nonnegative, equivalently . The boundary has probability zero, and the area under this parabola is
On that event the roots are , both nonpositive. Bounding both absolute values by one therefore amounts to bounding the more negative root:
Since , squaring the inequality is legitimate and gives . The admissible unit-square region is . Its probability is
Dividing by the real-root probability gives the requested conditional probability:

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