Let be a positive integer coprime to . We color each of the vertices of a regular -gon with one of three colors, such that the number of vertices colored with each color is odd. Prove that we can always find three vertices among these vertices, all of different colors, such that the triangle formed by connecting these three points is an isosceles triangle.
Solution
Let denote the number of isosceles triangles, among all isosceles triangles, whose three vertices include exactly colors. Then the problem is equivalent to proving .
We use proof by contradiction. Suppose . Consider the set
Let us translate that set definition properly:
Let us count the number of elements in in two different ways:
– First, for each triangle:
* A triangle with only one color must have no edges whose endpoints are of different colors.
* A triangle with exactly two colors has exactly edges whose endpoints are of different colors.
* By assumption, there are no triangles with three colors.
Combining the above, .
– On the other hand, choose any two vertices ; since , we know that is a side of exactly isosceles triangles. If we let denote the number of vertices of the three colors respectively, then the number of edges whose two endpoints have different colors is , so .
However, by the assumption of the problem, are all odd, so is odd, and thus it cannot equal , a contradiction! Therefore .