2010 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 22

Problem

Eight points are chosen on a circle, and chords are drawn connecting every pair of points. No three chords intersect in a single point inside the circle. How many triangles with all three vertices in the interior of the circle are created?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 28 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 56 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 70 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 84 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 140$

Solution

Solution 1

To choose a chord, we know that two points must be chosen. This implies that for three chords to create a triangle and not intersect at a single point, six points need to be chosen. Therefore, the answer is ${{8}\choose{6}}$ which is equivalent to 28, $\boxed{(A)}$

Solution 2

We first figure out how many triangles can be created. This is done by choosing $3$ lines out of the $8$, which is equivalent to $\binom{8}{3}=56$. However, some of these triangles have vertices on the circle. Therefore, the answer choice must be less than $56$. The only one that is so is $\boxed{(A)}$.

See Also

2010 AMC 10A (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 21
Followed by
Problem 23
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

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