1993 AHSME Problems/Problem 28

Problem

How many triangles with positive area are there whose vertices are points in the $xy$-plane whose coordinates are integers $(x,y)$ satisfying $1\le x\le 4$ and $1\le y\le 4$?

$\text{(A) } 496\quad \text{(B) } 500\quad \text{(C) } 512\quad \text{(D) } 516\quad \text{(E) } 560$

Solution

The vertices of the triangles are limited to a $4\times4$ grid, with $16$ points total. Every triangle is determined by $3$ points chosen from these $16$ for a total of $\binom{16}{3}=560$. However, triangles formed by collinear points do not have positive area. For each column or row, there are $\binom{4}{3}=4$ such degenerate triangles. There are $8$ total columns and rows, contributing $32$ invalid triangles. There are also $4$ for both of the diagonals and $1$ for each of the $4$ shorter diagonals. There are a total of $32+8+4=44$ invalid triangles counted in the $560$, so the answer is $560-44=516$ or answer choice $\fbox{D}$.

See also

1993 AHSME (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 27
Followed by
Problem 29
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