Example 5 Given points in space, no four of which are coplanar, and there are line segments connecting these points. Prove: these line segments form at least different triangles.
(1989 Chinese National Team Training Problem)
Problem 1154
Official solution
Prove that when , , these 4 points are connected by 5 line segments, only 1 pair of points are not connected, let's assume only and are not connected, thus there exist two triangles: and , the conclusion holds.
Assume that when , the conclusion holds. When , we first prove that there is at least one triangle. Let be a connected line segment, and let the number of line segments drawn from to the remaining points be and respectively.
(1) If , then among the remaining points, there must be a point that is connected to both and , thus exists.
(2) If , then removing points and the line segments from (including ), there are still points, and the number of line segments between them is at least line segments. Therefore, by the induction hypothesis, there must be a triangle.
Let be a triangle formed by the connected line segments, and let the number of line segments drawn from to the remaining points be respectively.
(1) If , then among the remaining points, at least points are connected to both endpoints of one of the line segments , forming at least triangles, plus , there are at least triangles in total.
(2) If , i.e., , then at least one of is no more than . Assume , at this time, removing points and the line segments from (including the three sides of ), there are still points, and the number of line segments between them is at least . Thus, by the induction hypothesis, there are at least triangles formed by the connected line segments, plus , there are at least triangles in total. Therefore, when , the conclusion holds, completing the induction proof.