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Geometry Difficulty 9.0 IMO level Prove it United States

Let rr be a rational number in the interval [1,1][-1, 1], and let θ=cos1r\theta = \cos^{-1} r. Call a subset SS of the plane good if SS is unchanged upon rotation by θ\theta around any point of SS (in both clockwise and counterclockwise directions). Determine all values of rr satisfying the following property: The midpoint of any two points in a good set also lies in the set.

(This problem was suggested by Ricky Liu.)

Solution

We claim the answer is r=114kr = 1 - \frac{1}{4k} for all positive integers kk.

Suppose AA and BB are points in SS. Place AA and BB on the complex plane such that A=0A = 0 and B=1B = 1, and let ω=cosθ+isinθ=r+i1r2\omega = \cos\theta + i\sin\theta = r + i\sqrt{1-r^2}. We claim that any good set containing AA and BB contains the good set TT of numbers of the form f(ω)f(\omega), where f(x)f(x) is a Laurent polynomial—that is, xnf(x)x^n f(x) is a polynomial for some (possibly negative) integer nn—with integer coefficients, and f(1)=0f(1) = 0 or 11.

We first show that TT is good. Indeed, for any pTp \in T, the rotation RpR_p about pp by θ\theta sends zRp(z)=(zp)ω+pz \mapsto R_p(z) = (z-p)\omega + p. If p=f(ω)p = f(\omega) and z=g(ω)Tz = g(\omega) \in T, then h(x)=(g(x)f(x))x+f(x)h(x) = (g(x)-f(x)) \cdot x + f(x) satisfies Rp(z)=h(ω)R_p(z) = h(\omega) and h(1)=g(1)=0h(1) = g(1) = 0 or 11, so Rp(z)TR_p(z) \in T. Similarly, Rp1(z)=(zp)ω1+pTR_p^{-1}(z) = (z-p) \cdot \omega^{-1} + p \in T, so TT is good.

Next we show that any good set SS containing 00 and 11 contains all of TT. Let f(x)f(x) be any Laurent polynomial with integer coefficients with f(1)=0f(1) = 0 or 11. We will show that f(ω)Sf(\omega) \in S. We induct on the sum ss of the absolute value of the coefficients of f(x)f(x). The case s=0s=0 is trivial. For s=1s=1, f(ω)f(\omega) must be a power of ω\omega, which is of the form R0k(1)SR_0^k(1) \in S. For s2s \ge 2, f(x)f(x) must have at least one positive and one negative coefficient, so write f(x)=xaxb+g(x)f(x) = x^a - x^b + g(x), where the sum of the absolute values of the coefficients of g(x)g(x) is s2s-2. Since g(1)=f(1)g(1) = f(1), g(ω)Sg(\omega) \in S by induction. Then
xaf(x)=(xbg(x)1)xba+1, x^{-a}f(x) = (x^{-b}g(x) - 1) \cdot x^{b-a} + 1,
so f(ω)=R0aR1baR0b(g(ω))Sf(\omega) = R_0^a \circ R_1^{b-a} \circ R_0^{-b}(g(\omega)) \in S, completing the induction.

It follows that rr satisfies the desired condition if and only if we can write 12=f(ω)T\frac{1}{2} = f(\omega) \in T. Then there is a polynomial g(x)=xn(2f(x)1)g(x) = x^n(2f(x)-1), all but one of whose coefficients are even, that has ω\omega as a root. If r=±1r = \pm 1, so ω=±1\omega = \pm 1, this is clearly impossible. Otherwise, let r=abr = \frac{a}{b} with aa and bb relatively prime. Then the minimal polynomial p(x)p(x) of ω\omega over the integers is bx22ax+bbx^2 - 2ax + b if bb is odd and b2x2ax+b2\frac{b}{2}x^2 - ax + \frac{b}{2} if bb is even. This minimal polynomial must divide g(x)g(x). But since g(x)g(x) is congruent to a power of xx modulo 2, p(x)p(x) must also be congruent to a power of xx modulo 2. The only possibility is for bb to be a multiple of 4 (and aa to be odd).

Finally, since g(1)=2f(1)1=±1g(1) = 2f(1) - 1 = \pm 1 and p(1)g(1)p(1) | g(1), we must have that p(1)=±1p(1) = \pm 1 as well. Since p(1)=b2a+b2=bap(1) = \frac{b}{2} - a + \frac{b}{2} = b - a, we must have b=a±1b = a \pm 1. Since r1|r| \le 1, ab|a| \le |b|. We find then that the only possibilities are r=114kr = 1 - \frac{1}{4k}, where we can let a=4k1a = 4k-1 and b=4kb = 4k, so p(1)=1p(1) = 1. Then letting f(x)=12(x1p(x)+1)=kx(2k1)+kx1f(x) = \frac{1}{2}(x^{-1}p(x) + 1) = kx - (2k-1) + kx^{-1}, we find that f(1)=1f(1) = 1, so 12=f(ω)T\frac{1}{2} = f(\omega) \in T, as desired.

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