• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 06:07
CEST 12:07
KST 19:07
  • 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
Code S Season 1 - RO8 Preview1[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt2: Progenitors8Code S Season 1 - RO12 Group A: Rogue, Percival, Solar, Zoun13[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt1: Inheritors16[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt2: All Star10
Community News
Weekly Cups (April 27-May 4): Clem takes triple0RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event11Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO12 Results12026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers25Maestros of the Game 2 announced9
StarCraft 2
General
Code S Season 1 - RO8 Preview Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book Weekly Cups (April 27-May 4): Clem takes triple Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO12 Results
Tourneys
GSL Code S Season 1 (2026) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event StarCraft Evolution League (SC Evo Biweekly) 2026 GSL Season 2 Qualifiers
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
Mutation # 524 Death and Taxes The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 523 Firewall Mutation # 522 Flip My Base
Brood War
General
(Spoiler) Asl ro8 D winner interview BW General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Do we have a pimpest plays list? AI Question
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro8 Day 4 [ASL21] Ro8 Day 3 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Ro8 Day 2
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Fighting Spirit mining rates What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Any training maps people recommend?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Dawn of War IV OutLive 25 (RTS Game) Daigo vs Menard Best of 10 Nintendo Switch Thread
Dota 2
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
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread 3D technology/software discussion Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion McBoner: A hockey love story
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
streaming software Strange computer issues (software) [G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Movie Stars In Video Games: …
TrAiDoS
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Broowar part 2
qwaykee
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1611 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
GSL
09:30
2026 Season 1: Ro8 Group A
Classic vs CureLIVE!
Maru vs Rogue
IntoTheiNu 778
Ryung 299
CranKy Ducklings SOOP81
herO (SOOP)46
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Ryung 279
herO (SOOP) 40
Rex 15
StarCraft: Brood War
BeSt 1462
Hyuk 357
actioN 245
Rush 174
Killer 150
Stork 149
EffOrt 123
hero 116
Mong 85
Mind 78
[ Show more ]
Backho 63
ggaemo 53
Aegong 49
ZerO 44
Soulkey 44
sSak 42
Shine 33
Bale 20
Sacsri 20
Noble 19
soO 12
SilentControl 6
ajuk12(nOOB) 6
League of Legends
JimRising 393
Counter-Strike
olofmeister2035
zeus556
allub264
edward44
Super Smash Bros
Westballz27
Other Games
summit1g6755
singsing166
monkeys_forever148
Mew2King47
ZerO(Twitch)8
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick571
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream25
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LUISG 28
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 6
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• TFBlade1020
• Jankos962
• Stunt440
Upcoming Events
GSL
23h 23m
SHIN vs Zoun
ByuN vs herO
OSC
1d
OSC
1d 2h
Replay Cast
1d 13h
Escore
1d 23h
The PondCast
1d 23h
WardiTV Invitational
2 days
Zoun vs Ryung
Lambo vs ShoWTimE
OSC
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
[ Show More ]
RSL Revival
2 days
SHIN vs Bunny
ByuN vs Shameless
WardiTV Invitational
3 days
Krystianer vs TriGGeR
Cure vs Rogue
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
3 days
BSL
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
RSL Revival
3 days
Cure vs Zoun
Clem vs Lambo
WardiTV Invitational
4 days
BSL
4 days
GSL
4 days
Afreeca Starleague
4 days
Soma vs Leta
Monday Night Weeklies
5 days
CranKy Ducklings
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
Light vs Flash
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-05-05
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 2026

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Acropolis #4
YSL S3
SCTL 2026 Spring
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S2: W6
KK 2v2 League Season 1
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
Escore Tournament S2: W7
Escore Tournament S2: W8
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Maestros of the Game 2
2026 GSL S2
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 2026
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.