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Difficulty: 7/102020 USAMO 2020 (Q4)

Let . Given distinct ordered pairs of non-negative integers , we wish to maximize the number of pairs with such that . Find the maximum possible number of such pairs.

Options:

  • A.

    The maximum possible number of such pairs is 198. Geometrically, the condition is equivalent to the triangle formed by the origin and points being a primitive lattice triangle of area . By Pick's Theorem and Euler's formula for planar graphs, the maximum number of such primitive triangles that can be formed by points is . For , this yields , which is achieved by the points and for .

  • The maximum possible number of such pairs is 197. Geometrically, the condition is equivalent to the triangle formed by the origin and points being a primitive lattice triangle of area . By Pick's Theorem and Euler's formula for planar graphs, the maximum number of such primitive triangles that can be formed by points is . For , this yields , which is achieved by the points and for .

  • C.

    The maximum possible number of such pairs is 196. Geometrically, the condition is equivalent to the triangle formed by the origin and points being a primitive lattice triangle of area . By Pick's Theorem and Euler's formula for planar graphs, the maximum number of such primitive triangles that can be formed by points is . For , this yields , which is achieved by the points and for .

  • D.

    The maximum possible number of such pairs is 199. Geometrically, the condition is equivalent to the triangle formed by the origin and points being a primitive lattice triangle of area . By Pick's Theorem and Euler's formula for planar graphs, the maximum number of such primitive triangles that can be formed by points is . For , this yields , which is achieved by the points and for .

Guide / Hint

Hint 1: Interpret the expression geometrically. Note that it is exactly twice the area of the triangle .

Hint 2: Use Pick's Theorem: the minimum area of a non-degenerate lattice triangle is . Thus, means the triangle has no other lattice points.

Hint 3: Formulate this as a triangulation problem of points in a coordinate plane. Use Euler's formula to bound the number of triangles by , and construct a case achieving this.

Solution

Step 1 (General Formula): For distinct points, the maximum number of such pairs is .
For , the maximum number of pairs is:

Step 2 (Geometric Interpretation): Let be points in the Cartesian plane. The condition is exactly twice the area of the triangle formed by the origin and the two points and . Thus, the condition is equivalent to .

By Pick's Theorem, a lattice triangle has area at least , and exactly if and only if it contains no other lattice points in its interior or boundary (a fundamental or primitive triangle).

Step 3 (Bounding): The set of segments divides the plane into sectors. The maximum number of primitive triangles sharing the origin that can be formed by points corresponds to a planar triangulation in coordinate space. By Euler's formula for planar graphs, the maximum number of such triangles is bounded by .

Step 4 (Construction): We can achieve exactly pairs using the following set of 100 points:

  • The origin , the point , and any point for form triangles of area .

  • The origin and any two consecutive points and for form triangles of area .

This gives a total of pairs.

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