Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /271 of 860

Combinatorics Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Find the answer

The set of points (x1,x2,x3,x4)\left(x_{1}, x_{2}, x_{3}, x_{4}\right) in R4\mathbf{R}^{4} such that x1x2x3x4x_{1} \geq x_{2} \geq x_{3} \geq x_{4} is a cone (or hypercone, if you insist). Into how many regions is this cone sliced by the hyperplanes xixj=1x_{i}-x_{j}=1 for 1i<jn1 \leq i<j \leq n ?

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

C(4)=14C(4)=14.

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.