Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 6 / 202 of 400 #1202 of 1964

Problem 1202

National Olympiad, first round
Combinatorics Difficulty 6.2 Prove it

Given 2n(n2)2 n(n \geqslant 2) points in space, no four of which are coplanar, and there are n2+1n^{2}+1 line segments connecting these points. Prove: these line segments form at least nn different triangles.
(1989 Chinese National Team Training Problem)

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

Prove that when n=2n=2, n2+1=5n^{2}+1=5, these 4 points A,B,C,DA, B, C, D are connected by 5 line segments, only C425=C_{4}^{2}-5= 1 pair of points are not connected, let's assume only CC and DD are not connected, thus there exist two triangles: ABC\triangle A B C and ABD\triangle A B D, the conclusion holds.

Assume that when n=kn=k, the conclusion holds. When n=k+1n=k+1, we first prove that there is at least one triangle. Let ABA B be a connected line segment, and let the number of line segments drawn from A,BA, B to the remaining n2=2kn-2=2 k points be aa and bb respectively.
(1) If a+b2k+1a+b \geqslant 2 k+1, then among the remaining 2k2 k points, there must be a point CC that is connected to both AA and BB, thus ABC\triangle A B C exists.
(2) If a+b2ka+b \leqslant 2 k, then removing points A,BA, B and the line segments from A,BA, B (including ABA B), there are still 2k2 k points, and the number of line segments between them is at least (k+1)2+1(2k+1)=k2+1(k+1)^{2}+1-(2 k+1)=k^{2}+1 line segments. Therefore, by the induction hypothesis, there must be a triangle.

Let ABC\triangle A B C be a triangle formed by the connected line segments, and let the number of line segments drawn from A,B,CA, B, C to the remaining 2k12 k-1 points be α,β,γ\alpha, \beta, \gamma respectively.
(1) If α+β+γ3k1\alpha+\beta+\gamma \geqslant 3 k-1, then among the remaining 2k12 k-1 points, at least (3k1)(2k1)=k(3 k-1)-(2 k-1)=k points are connected to both endpoints of one of the line segments AB,BC,CAA B, B C, C A, forming at least kk triangles, plus ABC\triangle A B C, there are at least k+1k+1 triangles in total.
(2) If α+β+γ3k2\alpha+\beta+\gamma \leqslant 3 k-2, i.e., (α+β)+(β+γ)+(γ+α)6k4(\alpha+\beta)+(\beta+\gamma)+(\gamma+\alpha) \leqslant 6 k-4, then at least one of α+β,β+γ,γ+α\alpha+\beta, \beta+\gamma, \gamma+\alpha is no more than 2k22 k-2. Assume α+β2k2\alpha+\beta \leqslant 2 k-2, at this time, removing points A,BA, B and the line segments from A,BA, B (including the three sides of ABC\triangle A B C), there are still 2k2 k points, and the number of line segments between them is at least (k+1)2+1[(2k2)+3]=k2+1(k+1)^{2}+1-[(2 k-2)+3]=k^{2}+1. Thus, by the induction hypothesis, there are at least kk triangles formed by the connected line segments, plus ABC\triangle A B C, there are at least k+1k+1 triangles in total. Therefore, when n=k+1n=k+1, the conclusion holds, completing the induction proof.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty, ordering) added by this project.