Let n be an odd positive integer. In the Cartesian plane, a cyclic polygon P with area S is chosen. All its vertices have integral coordinates, and the squares of its side lengths are all divisible by n. Prove that 2S is an integer divisible by n.
Solution
Let P=A1A2…Ak and let Ak+i=Ai for i⩾1. By the Shoelace Formula, the area of any convex polygon with integral coordinates is half an integer. Therefore, 2S is an integer. We shall prove by induction on k⩾3 that 2S is divisible by n. Clearly, it suffices to consider n=pt where p is an odd prime and t⩾1.
For the base case k=3, let the side lengths of P be na, nb, nc where a,b,c are positive integers. By Heron's Formula, 16S2=n2(2ab+2bc+2ca−a2−b2−c2). This shows 16S2 is divisible by n2. Since n is odd, 2S is divisible by n.
Assume k⩾4. If the square of length of one of the diagonals is divisible by n, then that diagonal divides P into two smaller polygons, to which the induction hypothesis applies. Hence we may assume that none of the squares of diagonal lengths is divisible by n. As usual, we denote by νp(r) the exponent of p in the prime decomposition of r. We claim the following.
- Claim. νp(A1Am2)>νp(A1Am+12) for 2⩽m⩽k−1.
Proof. The case m=2 is obvious since νp(A1A22)⩾pt>νp(A1A32) by the condition and the above assumption.
Suppose νp(A1A22)>νp(A1A32)>⋯>νp(A1Am2) where 3⩽m⩽k−1. For the induction step, we apply Ptolemy's Theorem to the cyclic quadrilateral A1Am−1AmAm+1 to get A1Am+1×Am−1Am+A1Am−1×AmAm+1=A1Am×Am−1Am+1 which can be rewritten as A1Am+12×Am−1Am2=A1Am−12×AmAm+12+A1Am2×Am−1Am+12−2A1Am−1×AmAm+1×A1Am×Am−1Am+1(1) From this, 2A1Am−1×AmAm+1×A1Am×Am−1Am+1 is an integer. We consider the component of p of each term in (1). By the inductive hypothesis, we have νp(A1Am−12)>νp(A1Am2). Also, we have νp(AmAm+12)⩾pt>νp(Am−1Am+12). These give νp(A1Am−12×AmAm+12)>νp(A1Am2×Am−1Am+12)(2) Next, we have νp(4A1Am−12×AmAm+12×A1Am2×Am−1Am+12)=νp(A1Am−12×AmAm+12)+νp(A1Am2×Am−1Am+12)>2νp(A1Am2×Am−1Am+12) from (2). This implies νp(2A1Am−1×AmAm+1×A1Am×Am−1Am+1)>νp(A1Am2×Am−1Am+12)(3) Combining (1), (2) and (3), we conclude that νp(A1Am+12×Am−1Am2)=νp(A1Am2×Am−1Am+12) By νp(Am−1Am2)⩾pt>νp(Am−1Am+12), we get νp(A1Am+12)<νp(A1Am2). The Claim follows by induction.
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