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Geometry Difficulty 8.8 Shortlist Prove it IMO

Let kk and nn be integers with 0kn20 \leq k \leq n-2. Consider a set LL of nn lines in the plane such that no two of them are parallel and no three have a common point. Denote by II the set of intersection points of lines in LL. Let OO be a point in the plane not lying on any line of LL.
A point XIX \in I is colored red if the open line segment OXO X intersects at most kk lines in LL. Prove that II contains at least 12(k+1)(k+2)\frac{1}{2}(k+1)(k+2) red points.

Solution

There are at least 12(k+1)(k+2)\frac{1}{2}(k+1)(k+2) points in the intersection set II in view of the condition nk+2n \geq k+2.
For each point PIP \in I, define its order as the number of lines that intersect the open line segment OPO P. By definition, PP is red if its order is at most kk. Note that there is always at least one point XIX \in I of order 00. Indeed, the lines in LL divide the plane into regions, bounded or not, and OO belongs to one of them. Clearly any corner of this region is a point of II with order 00.

Claim. Suppose that two points P,QIP, Q \in I lie on the same line of LL, and no other line of LL intersects the open line segment PQP Q. Then the orders of PP and QQ differ by at most 11.

Proof. Let PP and QQ have orders pp and qq, respectively, with pqp \geq q. Consider triangle OPQO P Q. Now pp equals the number of lines in LL that intersect the interior of side OPO P. None of these lines intersects the interior of side PQP Q, and at most one can pass through QQ. All remaining lines must intersect the interior of side OQO Q, implying that qp1q \geq p-1. The conclusion follows.

We prove the main result by induction on kk. The base k=0k=0 is clear since there is a point of order 00 which is red. Assuming the statement true for k1k-1, we pass on to the inductive step. Select a point PIP \in I of order 00, and consider one of the lines L\ell \in L that pass through PP. There are n1n-1 intersection points on \ell, one of which is PP. Out of the remaining n2n-2 points, the kk closest to PP have orders not exceeding kk by the Claim. It follows that there are at least k+1k+1 red points on \ell.

Let us now consider the situation with \ell removed (together with all intersection points it contains). By hypothesis of induction, there are at least 12k(k+1)\frac{1}{2}k(k+1) points of order not exceeding k1k-1 in the resulting configuration. Restoring \ell back produces at most one new intersection point on each line segment joining any of these points to OO, so their order is at most kk in the original configuration. The total number of points with order not exceeding kk is therefore at least (k+1)+12k(k+1)=12(k+1)(k+2)(k+1)+\frac{1}{2}k(k+1)=\frac{1}{2}(k+1)(k+2). This completes the proof.

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