. .. .

. .
. . .
.
. . .
Points Polygon Chords Intersection

4 quadrilateral 6 1

5 pentagon 10 5
 . . .
.. .
. ..
. . . .
.
Number of points Max, number of chords

1 0
2 1
3 3
4 6
5 10

IV. Exploring Systematically

Number of Points Max. Number of
regions

1 1
2 2
3 4
4 8
5 16
Number of Max. Max. number
Points Number of of regions
Chords
1 0 1
2 1 2
3 3 4
4 6 8
5 10 16
Number of points Max. no. of
chords
1 O
2 1
3 3=1+2
4 6=1+2+3
5 10 = 1+ 2 + 3 + 4
Number of points Max. number of chords

1 0
2 1 2x½ 2x½
3 3 3x1 3 x 2/2 3 x (3-1)/2
4 6 4x1½ 4 x 3/2 4 x (4-1)/2
5 10 5 x 2 5 x 4/2 5 x (5-1)/2

This suggested n x (n-1)/2

that for n
For the number of regions, and
observable pattern is the following:

Number of points Max. number of regions

1 1 20 21-1
2 2 21 23-1
3 4 22 2 3-1
4 8 23 24-1
5 16 24 25-1
This suggested that for n 2n-1
 Data from diagram Data from
conjecture
Number of points Max. number of n x (n-1)/2
chords
1 0 1x(1-1)/2 = 0
2 1 2x(2-1)/2 = 1
3 3 3x(3-1)/2 = 3
4 6 4x(4-1)/2 = 6
5 10 5x(5-1)/2 = 10

In each instances, the value obtained from the

conjecture agrees with that obtained from the
diagrams so the conjecture is supported.
 . .
.
.
. .
At this stage, the conjecture has been
tested and supported, but not justified.
 Data from Data from
diagram conjecture
Number of points Max. number of
chords
2n-1

1 1 21-1
2 2 22-1
3 4 23-1
4 8 24-1
5 16 25-1