Olympiad Maths Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Iran

Let nn be a positive integer. There are 2n2n red lines and nn blue lines in general position given on the plane. Prove that there are at least (n1)(n2)2\frac{(n-1)(n-2)}{2} regions with a monochromatic perimeter. (An infinite region is also counted as a region with rays and segments forming its perimeter).

Solution

First note that there are totally (3n+12)+1\binom{3n+1}{2} + 1 regions formed by these lines. So we have to prove that there are at most (3n+12)+1(n1)(n2)2=4n2+3n\binom{3n+1}{2} + 1 - \frac{(n-1)(n-2)}{2} = 4n^2 + 3n bi-colored regions.

Consider an arbitrary point XX on the plane as "the infinity point", such that XX is neither inside of any of the finite regions nor any of the 3n3n lines. On each of the 3n3n lines, choose two points as the line's endpoints such that all the intersection points of a line, lie between its two endpoints. Now connect XX to all of the endpoints with curved segments in a way that these segments don't intersect at any point except XX. Color a segment as the color of its corresponding line.

Consider a table in which each of the rows corresponds a bi-colored region, one column corresponds the point XX, and each of the other columns corresponds a point which is the intersection of a red and a blue line. Write 1 in the intersection of a row and a column, if the column's point lies on the region corresponding the row, and write 0 otherwise.

Now we count the sum of the numbers in two ways. Obviously XX lies on 6n6n segments. So it is on at most 6n6n bi-colored regions. Note that these regions are the infinite regions we initially had. An intersection of a red and a blue line is exactly on 4 bi-colored regions. Note that there are exactly 2n×n=2n22n \times n = 2n^2 such points. So the sum of the numbers written is at most
4×2n2+6n=8n2+6n. 4 \times 2n^2 + 6n = 8n^2 + 6n.

On the other hand, it's easy to find that the sum of the numbers in a row corresponding to a bi-colored (finite or infinite) region is at least 2. So if there are kk bi-colored regions, we have
8n2+6n2k4n2+3nk 8n^2 + 6n \ge 2k \Rightarrow 4n^2 + 3n \ge k
as desired.

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