2020 IMO Problems/Problem 6
Contents
[hide]Problem
Prove that there exists a positive constant such that the following statement is true:
Consider an integer , and a set of n points in the plane such that the distance between any two different points in is at least . It follows that there is a line separating such that the distance from any point of to is at least .
(A line separates a set of points if some segment joining two points in crosses .)
Note. Weaker results with replaced by may be awarded points depending on the value of the constant .
Solution
For any unit vector , let and . If then we can find a line perpendicular to such that separates , and any point in is at least away from .
Suppose there is no such direction , then is contained in a box with side length by considering the direction of and , respectively. Hence, is contained in a disk with radius . Now suppose that is the disk with the minimum radius, say , which contains . Then, . Since the distance between any two points in is at least , too.
Let be any point in on the boundary of . Let be the line tangent to at , and the line obtained by translating by distance towards the inside of . Let be the region sandwiched by and . It is easy to show that both the area and the perimeter of is bounded by (since ). Hence, there can only be points in , by that any two points in are distance apart. Since the width of is , there must exist a line parallel to such that separates , and any point in is at least away from . Q.E.D.
Note. One can also show that is best possible. ~Shen Kislay kai
Video solution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTqwOoSfaAA [video covers all day 2 problems]
See Also
2020 IMO (Problems) • Resources | ||
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