Let $\ell_A$ and $\ell_B$ be two distinct parallel lines. For positive integers $m$ and $n$, distinct points $A_1, A_2, \allowbreak A_3, \allowbreak \ldots, \allowbreak A_m$ lie on $\ell_A$, and distinct points $B_1, B_2, B_3, \ldots, B_n$ lie on $\ell_B$. Additionally, when segments $\overline{A_iB_j}$ are drawn for all $i=1,2,3,\ldots, m$ and $j=1,\allowbreak 2,\allowbreak 3, \ldots, \allowbreak n$, no point strictly between $\ell_A$ and $\ell_B$ lies on more than 1 of the segments. Find the number of bounded regions into which this figure divides the plane when $m=7$ and $n=5$. The figure shows that there are 8 regions when $m=3$ and $n=2$.
We can use recursion to solve this problem: 
1. Fix 7 points on $\ell_A$, then put one point $B_1$ on $\ell_B$. Now, introduce a function $f(x)$ that indicates the number of regions created, where x is the number of points on $\ell_B$. For example, $f(1) = 6$ because there are 6 regions.
2. Now, put the second point $B_2$ on $\ell_B$. Join $A_1~A_7$ and $B_2$ will create $7$ new regions (and we are not going to count them again), and split the existing regions. Let's focus on the spliting process: line segment formed between $B_2$ and $A_1$ intersect lines $\overline{B_1A_2}$, $\overline{B_1A_3}$, ..., $\overline{B_1A_7}$ at $6$ points $\Longrightarrow$ creating $6$ regions (we already count one region at first), then $5$ points $\Longrightarrow$ creating $5$ regions (we already count one region at first), 4 points, etc. So, we have: \[f(2) = f(1) + 7 + (6+5+...+1) = 34.\]
3. If you still need one step to understand this: $A_1~A_7$ and $B_3$ will still create $7$ new regions. Intersecting \[\overline{A_2B_1}, \overline{A_2B_2};\] \[\overline{A_3B_1}, \overline{A_3B_2};\] \[...\] \[\overline{A_7B_1}, \overline{A_7B_2}\] at $12$ points, creating $12$ regions, etc. Thus, we have: \[f(3) = f(2)+7+(12+10+8+...+2)=34+7+6\cdot 7=83.\]
Yes, you might already notice that: \[f(n+1) = f(n)+7+(6+5+...+1)\cdot n = f(n) + 7 + 21n.\]
5. Finally, we have $f(4) = 153$, and $f(5)=244$. Therefore, the answer is $\boxed{244}$.
Note: we could deduce a general formula of this recursion: $f(n+1)=f(n)+N_a+\frac{n\cdot (N_a) \cdot (N_a-1)}{2}$, where $N_a$ is the number of points on $\ell_A$