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37th Iranian Mathematical Olympiad

Iran counting and probability

Problem

Let be a positive integer. There are red lines and blue lines in general position given on the plane. Prove that there are at least regions with a monochromatic perimeter. (An infinite region is also counted as a region with rays and segments forming its perimeter).
Solution
First note that there are totally regions formed by these lines. So we have to prove that there are at most bi-colored regions.

Consider an arbitrary point on the plane as "the infinity point", such that is neither inside of any of the finite regions nor any of the lines. On each of the lines, choose two points as the line's endpoints such that all the intersection points of a line, lie between its two endpoints. Now connect to all of the endpoints with curved segments in a way that these segments don't intersect at any point except . Color a segment as the color of its corresponding line.

Consider a table in which each of the rows corresponds a bi-colored region, one column corresponds the point , and each of the other columns corresponds a point which is the intersection of a red and a blue line. Write 1 in the intersection of a row and a column, if the column's point lies on the region corresponding the row, and write 0 otherwise.

Now we count the sum of the numbers in two ways. Obviously lies on segments. So it is on at most bi-colored regions. Note that these regions are the infinite regions we initially had. An intersection of a red and a blue line is exactly on 4 bi-colored regions. Note that there are exactly such points. So the sum of the numbers written is at most

On the other hand, it's easy to find that the sum of the numbers in a row corresponding to a bi-colored (finite or infinite) region is at least 2. So if there are bi-colored regions, we have as desired.

Techniques

Counting two waysEuler characteristic: V-E+F