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PrintCesko-Slovacko-Poljsko
counting and probability
Problem
Given an integer , consider the set consisting of points in the plane. Let be any subset of containing at least points. Prove that there are at least convex quadrangles with all their vertices in such that their diagonals intersect in one common point.
Solution
Let and let be the set of all segments with endpoints in . Clearly, . The coordinates of every midpoint of a segment from are integer multiples of . In the convex hull of there are less than such points so there exists a point which is a midpoint of at least segments from . Let be the set of all segments from with their midpoints in . Then and .
Let us divide into disjoint families of segments which lay on the same line. Suppose that the number of such families is and in the -th family we have segments, for . Every segment from segments of one family has its endpoints in and they have a common midpoint, so . Moreover every two segments from are the diagonals of a parallelogram iff they do not lay on the same line. Therefore for the number of different parallelograms with diagonals belonging to we have Thus we have more than convex quadrangles (parallelograms) satisfying the given condition.
Let us divide into disjoint families of segments which lay on the same line. Suppose that the number of such families is and in the -th family we have segments, for . Every segment from segments of one family has its endpoints in and they have a common midpoint, so . Moreover every two segments from are the diagonals of a parallelogram iff they do not lay on the same line. Therefore for the number of different parallelograms with diagonals belonging to we have Thus we have more than convex quadrangles (parallelograms) satisfying the given condition.
Techniques
Pigeonhole principleCounting two waysConvex hullsQuadrilaterals