IMO 2021 training week 2

Hoang Nguyen
May 2021

1 In-class problems
1. Let n be an integer greater than 1. Suppose 2n points are given in the plane, no three of which are
collinear. Suppose n of the given 2n points are colored blue and the other n colored red. A line in the
plane is called a balancing line if it passes through one blue and one red point and, for each side of
the line, the number of blue points on that side is equal to the number of red points on the same side.
Prove that there exist at least two balancing lines.
2. We are given a cardboard square of area 1/4 and a paper triangle of area 1/2 such that all the squares
of the side lengths of the triangle are integers. Prove that the square can be completely wrapped with
the triangle. (In other words, prove that the triangle can be folded along several straight lines and the
square can be placed inside the folded figure so that both faces of the square are completely covered
with paper.)
3. Let S be a finite set of at least two points in the plane. Assume that no three points of S are collinear.
A windmill is a process that starts with a line ` going through a single point P ∈ S. The line rotates
clockwise about the pivot P until the first time that the line meets some other point belonging to S.
This point, Q, takes over as the new pivot, and the line now rotates clockwise about Q, until it next
meets a point of S. This process continues indefinitely. Show that we can choose a point P in S and a
line ` going through P such that the resulting windmill uses each point of S as a pivot infinitely many
times.

In case you finish ahead of time

4. Suppose there are 18 lighthouses on the Gulf of Tonkin. Each of the lighthouses lightens an angle with
size 20o . Prove that we can choose the directions of the lighthouses such that whole of the Gulf of
Tonkin is lit.

2 Problem solving strategies

• Consider finding geometric invariant, especially problems involving transformations.
• Consider using geometric continuity and transforming the problem to a desirable configuration.
• Try small cases and apply induction: Self-explanatory.
• Take convex hull and see what happens.

• Try extremal arguments: take minimum/maximum coordinates/angle/area.

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3 Theory
3.1 Pick’s theorem
Suppose that a polygon has integer coordinates for all of its vertices, let i be the number of integer points
that are interior to the polygon and let b be the number of integer points on its boundary (including both
vertices and points along the sides of the polygon). Then the area A of this polygon is:

b
A=i+ −1
2
Example 1: Given a triangle ABC with three lattice vertices. It is known that no more lattice point lies
on the edges and only one lattice point D is inside the triangle. Prove that D is centroid of that triangle.
Example 2: Prove or disprove: An acute triangle with lattice vertices will contain a lattice point inside the
triangle.

3.2 Minkowski’s theorem

Every convex set in Rn which is symmetric with respect to the origin and which has volume greater than 2n
contains a non-zero integer point.
Remark: A problem solving strategy for proving the existence of lattice point is to show that the vol-
ume/area of a convex set is larger than some value.

4 Homework
1. (Saint-Petersburg 2015) There is convex n−gon. We color all its sides and also diagonals, that goes out
from one vertex. So we have 2n − 3 colored segments. We write positive numbers on colored segments.
In one move we can take quadrilateral ABCD such, that AC and all sides are colored, then remove
AC and color BD with number xz+yt w , where x, y, z, t, w - numbers on AB, BC, CD, DA, AC. After
some moves we found that all colored segments are same that was at beginning. Prove, that they have
same number that was at beginning.

2. (Sharygin Final 2016) The Devil and the Man play a game. Initially, the Man pays some cash s to the
Devil. Then he lists some 97 triples {i, j, k} consisting of positive integers not exceeding 100. After
that, the Devil draws some convex polygon A1 A2 ...A100 with area 100 and pays to the Man, the sum
of areas of all triangles Ai Aj Ak . Determine the maximal value of s which guarantees that the Man
receives at least as much cash as he paid.

3. (Sharygin Final 2019) A ship tries to land in the fog. The crew does not know the direction to the
land. They see a lighthouse on a little island, and they understand that the distance to the lighthouse
does not exceed 10 km (the precise distance is not known). The distance from the lighthouse to the
land equals 10 km. The lighthouse is surrounded by reefs, hence the ship cannot approach it. Can
the ship land having sailed the distance not greater than 75 km? (The waterside is a straight line, the
trajectory has to be given before the beginning of the motion, after that the autopilot navigates the
ship according to it.)
4. (Iran 2003) Consider a lamp (a point) in space. Prove that no matter how we place a finite number of
closed spheres of equal radius, the light of this lamp will be able to go to infinity (that is, there exists
a direction in which the light will not hit any of these spheres). The spheres must not touch.

5. (Kvant, Iran TST 2005) Suppose there are 18 lighthouses on the Gulf of Tonkin. Each of the lighthouses
lightens an angle with size 20o . Prove that we can choose the directions of the lighthouses such that
whole of the Gulf of Tonkin is lit.

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 Lattice point geometry
6. Prove that there is no position in which an n × n square can cover more than (n + 1)2 integral lattice
points.
7. (Blichtfeldt’s theorem) Whenever a bounded set in the Euclidean plane has area A, it can be translated
so that it includes at least dAe points of the integer lattice.
8. (Lattice trapezium theorem) Prove that a convex lattice trapezium must contain a lattice point in the
interior.
9. (Lattice pentagon theorem, also ARMO 2000) A convex pentagon ABCDE is given in the coordinate
plane with all vertices in lattice points. Prove that there must be at least one lattice point in the
pentagon determined by the diagonals AC, BD, CE, DA, EB or on its boundary.
10. If a convex lattice n-gon has g interior lattice points (g > 0) and b lattice points on its boundary, then
b ≤ 2g + 7. If n > 3, then b ≤ 2g + 6.
11. (Interior hull vertex inequality) Let P be a convex lattice polygon and H be the convex hull of all
interior lattice points of P . Show that if P has at least 7 vertices then P has at least 4 interior lattice
points and the number of vertices of P is no more than two times the number of vertices of H (in other
words, v(P ) ≤ 2v(H)).
12. (Korea Final 2001) For a positive integer n ≥ 5, let ai , bi (i = 1, 2, · · · , n) be integers satisfying the
following two conditions:
(a) The pairs (ai , bi ) are distinct for i = 1, 2, · · · , n
(b) |a1 b2 − a2 b1 | = |a2 b3 − a3 b2 | = · · · = |an b1 − a1 bn | = 1.
Prove that there exist indices i, j such that 1 < |i − j| < n − 1 and |ai bj − aj bi | = 1.

It’s geometry. It’s combinatorics. No, it’s geometry with combinatorial

ideas
13. (IMO 2002) Let n ≥ 3 be a positive integer. Let C1 , C2 , C3 , . . . , Cn be unit circles in the plane, with
centres O1 , O2 , O3 , . . . , On respectively. If no line meets more than two of the circles, prove that
X 1 (n − 1)π
≤ .
Oi Oj 4
1≤i<j≤n

14. (IMO 2006) Assign to each side b of a convex polygon P the maximum area of a triangle that has b
as a side and is contained in P . Show that the sum of the areas assigned to the sides of P is at least
twice the area of P .
15. (IMO 2020) Prove that there exists a positive constant c such that the following statement is true:
Consider an integer n > 1, and a set S of n points in the plane such that the distance between any two
different points in S is at least 1. It follows that there is a line ` separating S such that the distance
from any point of S to ` is at least cn−1/3 .
(A line ` separates a set of points S if some segment joining two points in S crosses `.)
Note. Weaker results with cn−1/3 replaced by cn−α may be awarded points depending on the value of
the constant α > 1/3.