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Problem 1901

National Olympiad second round; IMO P1/P4
Geometry Difficulty 7.0 Prove it Iranian Mathematical Olympiad · Iran

n>10n > 10 is a positive integer. nn lines are drawn on the plane such that no three are concurrent and no two are parallel. Among the finite regions formed by these lines, at least n28+1\frac{n^2}{8} + 1 of them were blacked. We call a triangle formed by three lines good if there is only one black region inside of it. Prove that we at least have n2\frac{n}{2} good triangles.

Note. We call a region finite if its area is finite.

This one wants a proof. Work it on paper, then read the official solution and mark yourself. Be honest about it: the record is only any use to you if it is.

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Official solution

First, we prove that for every line \ell, there exist lines d1d_1, d2d_2 such that the triangle d1d2\ell d_1 d_2 has exactly one black region inside it. On one of the two sides of \ell, there is a black region. Without loss of generality, assume this region is above \ell. To see this, take the closest point to \ell which is the vertex with the longest distance in the black region. Suppose this point is the intersection of d1d_1, d2d_2. The triangle d1d2\ell d_1 d_2 clearly has this property.

Now, let xx be the number of lines that have black regions on both sides. According to the point above, the number of good triangles is at least 2x+(nx)3\frac{2x + (n - x)}{3}. Therefore, it suffices to prove that x>n12x > \frac{n - 1}{2}.

Consider all the lines that have a black region on only one of their sides, and consider the intersection of the sides of these lines in which these black regions exist. This intersection will be an nxn - x-gon which contains all the black regions inside it. In this case, the remaining xx lines eventually divide this polygon into x(x+1)2+1\frac{x(x + 1)}{2} + 1 regions. Therefore, n2xx(x+1)2\frac{n^2}{x} \le \frac{x(x + 1)}{2}, which implies that x>n12x > \frac{n - 1}{2}.

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