A new proof of R\'edei's theorem on the number of directions

Abstract

R\'edei and Megyesi proved that the number of directions determined by a $p$ element subset of $\mathbb{F}_p^2$ is either $1$ or at least $\frac{p+3}{2}$. The same result was independently obtained by Dress, Klin and Muzychuk. We give a new and short proof of this result using a Lemma proved by Kiss and the author. The new proof further on a result on polynomials over finite fields.