Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Find the answer

Let SS be the set of lattice points inside the circle x2+y2=11x^{2}+y^{2}=11. Let MM be the greatest area of any triangle with vertices in SS. How many triangles with vertices in SS have area MM?

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Solution

The boundary of the convex hull of SS consists of points with (x,y)(x, y) or (y,x)=(0,±3)(y, x)=(0, \pm 3), (±1,±3)( \pm 1, \pm 3), and (±2,±2)( \pm 2, \pm 2). For any triangle TT with vertices in SS, we can increase its area by moving a vertex not on the boundary to some point on the boundary. Thus, if TT has area MM, its vertices are all on the boundary of SS. The next step is to see (either by inspection or by noting that T has area no larger than that of an equilateral triangle inscribed in a circle of radius 10\sqrt{10}, which has area less than 13) that M=12M=12. There are 16 triangles with area 12 , all congruent to one of the following three: vertices (2,2),(1,3)(2,2),(1,-3), and (3,1)(-3,1); vertices (3,1),(3,1)(3,-1),(-3,-1), and (1,3)(1,3); or vertices (3,1)(3,-1), (3,1)(-3,-1), and (0,3)(0,3).

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