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Geometry Difficulty 8.8 Shortlist Prove it China

Find all positive integers kk such that there are finitely many triangles on the Descartes coordinate plane such that
(1) the center of mass of each triangle is an integral point;
(2) the intersection of any two triangles is either the empty set, a common vertex, or an edge joining two common vertices; and
(3) the union of these triangles is a square with side length kk. (The vertices of the squares are not required to be integral points, and the edges are not required to be parallel to the coordinate axes.)

Solution

The desired positive integers kk are those divisible by 33.

First assume that k=3tk = 3t for tNt \in \mathbb{N}. Consider the square with vertices (0,0)(0,0), (3t,3t)(3t, 3t), (3t,0)(3t, 0), and (0,3t)(0, 3t). Divide it into t2t^2 different smaller squares with the same side length 33 along the lines x=3ix = 3i (i=1,,ti = 1, \dots, t) and y=3jy = 3j (j=1,,tj = 1, \dots, t). After this, each square can be divided into 22 isosceles right triangles along the diagonal, and the center of mass of each triangle is an integral point. This gives the needed triangulation.

Conversely, suppose that a square with side length kk has a triangulation such that the center of mass of each small triangle is an integral point. Let VV denote the set of all vertices of the triangulation. Define a binary relation A0BA \sim_0 B in VV if two triangles of the triangulation are of the form ACD\triangle ACD, BCD\triangle BCD. The equivalence relation \sim on VV is generated by 0\sim_0, i.e. A0BA \sim_0 B if and only if there exist A1,,ArA_1, \dots, A_r such that A0A100Ar0BA \sim_0 A_1 \sim_0 \dots \sim_0 A_r \sim_0 B. Denote the horizontal and vertical coordinates of a point PP by xPx_P and yPy_P, respectively. We have

(i) If A0BA \sim_0 B, then 3xAxB3 \mid x_A - x_B and 3yAyB3 \mid y_A - y_B. This is because: by transitivity, one may assume that A0BA \sim_0 B, i.e., there are two triangles in the triangulation of the form ACD\triangle ACD, BCD\triangle BCD, whose centers of mass are both integral points. Therefore, 3xA+xC+xD3 \mid x_A + x_C + x_D and 3xB+xC+xD3 \mid x_B + x_C + x_D; thus 3xAxB3 \mid x_A - x_B. We may deduce similarly 3yAyB3 \mid y_A - y_B.

(ii) The set VV has at most 33 equivalent classes with respect to \sim. This is because after fixing a triangle T0T_0, for each point AA in VV, there is always a sequence of triangles T0,,TrT_0, \dots, T_r such that Ti1T_{i-1} and TiT_i shares a same side for all i=1,,ri = 1, \dots, r, and that AA is a vertex of TrT_r. By definition of \sim, all three vertices of Ti1T_{i-1} are respectively equivalent to three vertices of TiT_i. Hence by induction, AA is equivalent to one of the vertices of T0T_0.

By (ii) together with the pigeonhole principle, two of the four vertices of a square must be equivalent. Then from (i), we know that 3k23 \mid k^2 or 32k23 \mid 2k^2, which implies 3k3 \mid k.

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