Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it United States

Problem:

In a convex nn-sided polygon, all the diagonals are drawn and no three of them pass through a point. Find a formula for the number of regions formed inside the polygon.

Solution

Solution:

To start with, there is one region inside the nn-gon. A new region is created each time a new diagonal is drawn or two diagonals intersect. The number of diagonals is (n2)n\binom{n}{2} - n, since each diagonal corresponds to a pair of non-adjacent vertices. The number of intersections of two diagonals is (n4)\binom{n}{4}, since each set of four vertices determines a unique pair of intersecting diagonals. Thus, the total number of regions formed is

1+(n2)n+(n4) 1 + \binom{n}{2} - n + \binom{n}{4}

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