Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /65 of 97

Geometry Difficulty 8.2 Shortlist Find the answer

Given positive integer n5 n \ge 5 and a convex polygon PP, namely A1A2...An A_1A_2...A_n . No diagonals of PP are concurrent. Proof that it is possible to choose a point inside every quadrilateral AiAjAkAl(1i<j<k<ln) A_iA_jA_kA_l (1\le i<j<k<l\le n) not on diagonals of PP, such that the (n4) \tbinom{n}{4} points chosen are distinct, and any segment connecting these points intersect with some diagonal of P.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

Given a positive integer n5 n \geq 5 and a convex polygon P P with vertices A1,A2,,An A_1, A_2, \ldots, A_n , we need to prove that it is possible to choose a point inside every quadrilateral AiAjAkAl A_iA_jA_kA_l (where 1i<j<k<ln 1 \leq i < j < k < l \leq n ) such that the chosen points are distinct and any segment connecting these points intersects some diagonal of P P .

Define an intersection point to be the intersection of two diagonals within P P . If no three diagonals of P P are concurrent, then each intersection point X X is uniquely defined by the intersection of two diagonals AiAk A_iA_k and AjAl A_jA_l , so X X is in the interior of quadrilateral AiAjAkAl A_iA_jA_kA_l .

The diagonals of P P divide it into several regions. We wish to show that each intersection point X=AiAkAjAl X = A_iA_k \cap A_jA_l may be assigned a unique region RX R_X touching it. If this assignment is possible, then RX R_X is contained in the quadrilateral AiAjAkAl A_iA_jA_kA_l , and we choose a point within RX R_X . The (n4)\binom{n}{4} chosen points will all lie in different regions, so any segment connecting two of the chosen points must intersect some diagonal of P P .

Lemma. If some (at least one) intersection points are colored blue, there is a region containing exactly one blue point on its perimeter.

Proof of Lemma. Note that each intersection point touches exactly four regions. Suppose each of the four regions R1,R2,R3,R4 R_1, R_2, R_3, R_4 touching blue point X X have another blue vertex X1,X2,X3,X4 X_1, X_2, X_3, X_4 (all distinct from X X , but there may be repeated points among them). If we extend the diagonals through X X to infinite lines, the entire plane is divided into four sectors, each containing X1,X2,X3,X4 X_1, X_2, X_3, X_4 respectively (they may lie on the boundaries of the respective sectors). Therefore, X X lies in the convex hull of X1,X2,X3,X4 X_1, X_2, X_3, X_4 .

Thus, pick a blue point X X on the convex hull of the set of all blue points. It must touch a region that has no blue point other than X X , which proves the Lemma. \square

Initially, color all (n4)\binom{n}{4} intersection points blue. Then, repeatedly apply the Lemma to find region RX R_X with sole blue vertex X X ; assign X X to RX R_X , and remove the color from X X . Eventually, each intersection point is assigned a region touching it. If two intersection points X X and Y Y were assigned the same region RX=RY R_X = R_Y , where without loss of generality X X was assigned the region first, then Y Y would have been a second blue vertex of RX R_X , contradiction. Therefore, the assigned regions are unique, and the question statement follows.

The answer is: \boxed{\text{Proven}}.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.