Join the points

Probability Level pending

Twenty points are marked on a plane so that no three points are collinear except 7 points. How many triangles can be formed by joining the points?


The answer is 1105.

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1 solution

Marta Reece
Apr 11, 2017

If none of the points were colinear, we would have the number of groups of three can be found out of twenty. That is the combination number ( 3 20 ) = 20 × 19 × 18 2 × 3 = 1140 ( ^{20}_{ 3} )=\frac{20\times19\times18}{2\times3}=1140 .

When 7 of them are colinear, this means the triangles formed by using exclusively these 7 points will be degenerate and cannot be counted. So the number we need to subtract is ( 3 7 ) = 7 × 6 × 5 2 × 3 = 35 ( ^{7}_{ 3} )=\frac{7\times6\times5}{2\times3}=35 .

The final result is 1140 35 = 1105. 1140-35=1105.

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