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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.5 National olympiad Prove it Greece

We consider on a circle nn different points such that there are no three chords with ends from these points passing through the same point lying in the interior of the circle.

a. Find the value of nn, if you know that the number of triangles with vertices three from the nn points is equal to 2n2n.

β. Find the value of nn, if you know that the number of the intersection points of the chords, lying in the interior of the circle is equal to 5n5n.

Solution

(a) Any three from the nn points lying on the circle define a triangle. Therefore the number of triangles defined by the nn points is equal to the number of combinations of nn elements by 33, that is
(n3)=n(n1)(n2)6 \binom{n}{3} = \frac{n(n-1)(n-2)}{6}
Therefore we get the equation: n(n1)(n2)6=2nn=5\frac{n(n-1)(n-2)}{6} = 2n \Leftrightarrow n = 5.

(β) Any four different points from the nn points lying on the circle define a convex quadrilateral whose diagonals intersect at an interior point of the circle and conversely. Therefore the number of interior points of the circle which are points of intersection of two chords is equal to
(n4)=n!4!(n4)!=n(n1)(n2)(n3)24 \binom{n}{4} = \frac{n!}{4!(n-4)!} = \frac{n(n-1)(n-2)(n-3)}{24}
Therefore we have the equation
n(n1)(n2)(n3)24=5nn=7 \frac{n(n-1)(n-2)(n-3)}{24} = 5n \Leftrightarrow n = 7

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