• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 04:39
CET 09:39
KST 17:39
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt1: New Chaos0Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy7ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT30Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book19Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289
Community News
Weekly Cups (March 16-22): herO doubles, Cure surprises2Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool42Weekly Cups (March 9-15): herO, Clem, ByuN win42026 KungFu Cup Announcement6BGE Stara Zagora 2026 cancelled12
StarCraft 2
General
Weekly Cups (March 16-22): herO doubles, Cure surprises Weekly Cups (August 25-31): Clem's Last Straw? How to Choose the Right KYC Partner for Your Proje Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy What mix of new & old maps do you want in the next ladder pool? (SC2)
Tourneys
World University TeamLeague (500$+) | Signups Open RSL Season 4 announced for March-April Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament WardiTV Team League Season 10 KSL Week 87
Strategy
Custom Maps
Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026]
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 518 Radiation Zone Mutation # 517 Distant Threat Mutation # 516 Specter of Death
Brood War
General
ASL21 General Discussion Soulkey's decision to leave C9 BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ JaeDong's form before ASL [ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt1: New Chaos
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro24 Group B [ASL21] Ro24 Group A ASL Season 21 LIVESTREAM with English Commentary [Megathread] Daily Proleagues
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread General RTS Discussion Thread Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile Dawn of War IV
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine YouTube Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Cricket [SPORT] Formula 1 Discussion Tokyo Olympics 2021 Thread General nutrition recommendations
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Laptop capable of using Photoshop Lightroom?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Money Laundering In Video Ga…
TrAiDoS
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
FS++
Kraekkling
Shocked by a laser…
Spydermine0240
Unintentional protectionism…
Uldridge
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2592 users

A Counting Problem

Blogs > blankspace
Post a Reply
blankspace
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States292 Posts
April 10 2011 12:45 GMT
#1
Draw n points on the circumference on a circle. Then connect all lines between all points on the circle. What is the maximum number of regions that the circle may be divided into?

Example: For the case n=3, you have a triangle inscribed in the center of the circle. The number of regions is thus 4. For the case n=4, you have a square with diagonals drawn, so that gets you 8.

I will tell you though that the answer is not 2^(n-1), but it is not complicated.

Hello friends
Oracle
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Canada411 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-10 13:47:40
April 10 2011 13:15 GMT
#2
I think the answer is the (amount of faces of an n-complete graph) + n

I'll get back to you once i figure out the first part


EDIT: I dont think this is possible with my knowledge of graph theory, since # faces is ill-defined for non-planar graphs, and everything K_5 and above is nonplanar... and im stuck
Av4st
Profile Joined September 2008
Canada92 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-10 13:53:09
April 10 2011 13:42 GMT
#3
oops -- within the circle.. hmm
Oracle
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Canada411 Posts
April 10 2011 13:45 GMT
#4
On April 10 2011 22:42 getty wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
1 + 2^(n-1)


for n = 5 you have

[image loading]

which has 11 faces. Plus the 5 imaginary ones on the outside, so 16 total.

2^4 + 1 = 17
blankspace
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States292 Posts
April 10 2011 13:48 GMT
#5
I don't know if there is a good graph theory solution, but my solution for this does not use any. You need to find a clever way to count the regions.

Also note that the number of regions for n=7 is 57 so looking for some sort of 2^something formula is not going to work.
Hello friends
Marradron
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Netherlands1586 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-10 14:00:13
April 10 2011 13:56 GMT
#6
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/CompleteGraph.html

n(n-1) /2 + n

Gotta check if its right

nvm these are edges or something not correct.
Oracle
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Canada411 Posts
April 10 2011 14:04 GMT
#7
# VERTICES | # EDGES | # FACES
3 | 3 | 1 + 3 = 4
4 | 6 | 4 + 4 = 8
5 | 10 | 11 + 5 = 16
6 | 15 | 24 + 6 = 30
7 | 21 | 50 + 7 = 57

For anyone else attempting a graph-theory approach
Complete
Profile Joined October 2009
United States1864 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-10 15:23:17
April 10 2011 15:20 GMT
#8
n/m..
Complete
Profile Joined October 2009
United States1864 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-10 15:44:34
April 10 2011 15:43 GMT
#9
+ Show Spoiler +
(x^4-6x^3+23x^2-18x+24)/24
blankspace
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States292 Posts
April 10 2011 15:50 GMT
#10
@complete
+ Show Spoiler +
I think that is the correct answer, though you should realize that you can express it in a more elegant form (namely as the sum of binomial coefficients. What is your reasoning/how did you get the answer? Did you assume it was a polynomial and interpolated?
Hello friends
n.DieJokes
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
United States3443 Posts
April 10 2011 16:17 GMT
#11
It looks to me like he graphed the first couple of n's and then used software to fit the data but thats just a guess
MyLove + Your Love= Supa Love
LaLuSh
Profile Blog Joined April 2003
Sweden2358 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-10 18:01:54
April 10 2011 17:54 GMT
#12
+ Show Spoiler +
C(n, 4) + C(n, 2) + 1

Number of lines drawn between n points can be expressed as a series (n-1)+(n-2)+...(n-(n-1))

Or more practical as binomial coefficient: C(n,2). Expressing number of possibilities to connect 2 points in an n point circle by a line.

C(n,4) gives the number of possible intersects between any 4 of the n points in the circle.

Adding them together and the extra region in the center (+1), gives you the total.

+ Show Spoiler +
Watched the spoilers for help....
blankspace
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States292 Posts
April 10 2011 18:22 GMT
#13
@LaluSh

+ Show Spoiler +
That is the correct answer Can you justify why your answer is correct though? As in why should counting these intersections give you the number of regions?
Hello friends
JodoYodo
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Canada1772 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-10 18:31:40
April 10 2011 18:31 GMT
#14
+ Show Spoiler +
Every time a line intersects another line, you bisect two regions into four regions
Dance dance dance 'till we run this town!
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 22m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Nina 191
ProTech115
StarCraft: Brood War
firebathero 2249
Bisu 657
HiyA 262
Killer 112
ToSsGirL 83
Sharp 45
EffOrt 21
Noble 16
Bale 16
Nal_rA 13
[ Show more ]
Terrorterran 5
Purpose 1
Dota 2
canceldota86
febbydoto23
League of Legends
JimRising 478
Counter-Strike
Stewie2K972
m0e_tv547
Other Games
ceh9486
singsing486
Happy173
Sick128
Trikslyr17
crisheroes1
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick872
BasetradeTV120
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream113
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH178
• LUISG 24
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 1
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• HappyZerGling130
Upcoming Events
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1h 22m
Afreeca Starleague
1h 22m
Soulkey vs Ample
JyJ vs sSak
Replay Cast
1d
Afreeca Starleague
1d 1h
hero vs YSC
Larva vs Shine
Kung Fu Cup
1d 2h
Replay Cast
1d 15h
KCM Race Survival
2 days
The PondCast
2 days
WardiTV Team League
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Team League
3 days
RSL Revival
4 days
Cure vs Zoun
herO vs Rogue
WardiTV Team League
4 days
Platinum Heroes Events
4 days
BSL
4 days
RSL Revival
5 days
ByuN vs Maru
MaxPax vs TriGGeR
WardiTV Team League
5 days
BSL
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Afreeca Starleague
6 days
Light vs Calm
Royal vs Mind
Wardi Open
6 days
Monday Night Weeklies
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-03-23
WardiTV Winter 2026
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
BSL Season 22
CSL Elite League 2026
CSL Season 20: Qualifier 1
ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
RSL Revival: Season 4
Nations Cup 2026
NationLESS Cup
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual

Upcoming

2026 Changsha Offline CUP
CSL Season 20: Qualifier 2
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.