Let be an integer greater than . The set of all diagonals of a -gon is partitioned into sets, , so that, for every pair of distinct indices and , some diagonal in crosses some diagonal in ; that is, the two diagonals share an interior point. Determine the largest possible value of in terms of .
Solution
The required maximum is . Clearly, . To begin, we show that . Otherwise, some is a singleton set, say . Let be the number of vertices on one side of , so the number of vertices on the other side is , and the total number of diagonals crossing is . Notice that each , , contains such a diagonal, to infer that and thereby reach a contradiction.
To exhibit a partition of into sets satisfying the condition in the statement, label the vertices of the -gon in circular order, , and set
where indices are reduced modulo .
It is easily seen that the form a partition of . To show that they satisfy the condition in the statement, consider two such, say and . By cyclic symmetry, we may (and will) assume that . Notice that for a diagonal to cross no diagonal in it is necessary and sufficient that its endpoints both fall in one of the sets below:
(recall that ); if this is the case, we say that that set covers . Now, since each set encompasses at most consecutive vertices, none of these sets can cover both diagonals in . On the other hand, since the latter cross one another, they cannot be covered by different sets each either. Consequently, some diagonal in must cross some diagonal in and the conclusion follows.