Random triangles on flat tori

Abstract: Inspired by classical puzzles in geometry that ask about probabilities of geometric phenomena, we give an explicit formula for the probability that a random triangle on a flat torus is homotopically trivial. Our main tool for this computation involves reducing the problem to new invariant of measurable sets in the plane that is unchanged under area-preserving affine transformations. Our result show that this probability is minimized at all rectangular tori and maximized at the regular hexagonal torus.