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Selection tests for the Gulf Mathematical Olympiad, 2013

Geometry Difficulty 7.8 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Saudi Arabia

Find all values of nn for which there exists a convex cyclic non-regular polygon with nn vertices such that the measures of all its internal angles are equal.

Solution

Let P1P2⋯PnP_{1} P_{2} \cdots P_{n} be a convex cyclic non-regular polygon with the measures of all its internal angles equal and let OO be its circumcenter. Because all the angles are equal, all the arcs PiPi+2^\widehat{P_{i} P_{i+2}}, for i=1,…,ni=1, \ldots, n, have the same length. Hence, ∠PiOPi+2=4πn\angle P_{i} O P_{i+2} = \frac{4\pi}{n}, for all i=1,…,ni=1, \ldots, n, since the polygon is convex.

Figure 1

Let θ=∠P1OP2\theta = \angle P_{1} O P_{2}. We have
∠P2i−1OP2i=∠P1OP2+∠P2OP2i−∠P1OP2i−1=∠P1OP2=θ. \angle P_{2i-1} O P_{2i} = \angle P_{1} O P_{2} + \angle P_{2} O P_{2i} - \angle P_{1} O P_{2i-1} = \angle P_{1} O P_{2} = \theta.
If nn is an odd integer,
θ=∠PnOP1=n+12∠PnOP2=n+12⋅4πn=2πn=∠P1OP2 mod 2π. \theta = \angle P_{n} O P_{1} = \frac{n+1}{2} \angle P_{n} O P_{2} = \frac{n+1}{2} \cdot \frac{4\pi}{n} = \frac{2\pi}{n} = \angle P_{1} O P_{2} \quad \bmod 2\pi.
This means that the polygon is regular, which contradicts the hypothesis.

If nn is even, any value of θ\theta with 0<θ<4πn0 < \theta < \frac{4\pi}{n} and θ≠2πn\theta \neq \frac{2\pi}{n} defines a unique non-regular such polygon.

Therefore, the possible values of nn are all even positive integers n≥4n \geq 4.

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