Lattice polygons and the number 2i+7

Abstract

In this note we classify all triples (a,b,i) such that there is a convex lattice polygon P with area a, and b respectively i lattice points on the boundary respectively in the interior. The crucial lemma for the classification is the necessity of b \le 2 i + 7. We sketch three proofs of this fact: the original one by Scott, an elementary one, and one using algebraic geometry. As a refinement, we introduce an onion skin parameter l: how many nested polygons does P contain? and give sharper bounds.