1993 AMC 12 Problem 28

Attempt Problem 28 of the 1993 AMC 12 below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 1993 AMC 12 solutions, or check the answer key.

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28.

How many triangles with positive area are there whose vertices are points in the xyxy-plane whose coordinates are integers (x,y)(x,y) satisfying 1≤x≤41\le x\le4 and 1≤y≤4?1\le y\le4?
496496
500500
512512
516516
560560
Answer: D
Concepts:lattice pointscombinationscollinear triples
Small hint:
Start with all (163)\binom{16}{3} triples and subtract collinear ones
Big hint:
Three collinear grid points can occur only horizontally, vertically, or on a slope-±1\pm1 diagonal
Solution:
There are (163)=560\binom{16}{3}=560 triples of grid points. The four rows and four columns contribute 8(43)=32 8\binom43=32 collinear triples. For slope 1,1, the diagonal lengths capable of containing three points are 3,3, 4,4, 3,3, contributing (33)+(43)+(33)=6;\binom33+\binom43+\binom33=6; slope −1-1 contributes another 6.6. No other slope fits three lattice points inside a 44-by-44 point array. Thus the number of positive-area triangles is 560−32−6−6=516.560-32-6-6=516. Thus the correct answer is D.
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