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Geometry Difficulty 7.2 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Iran

Simple polygon AA with perimeter pp is called a rotund polygon, if for each two points xx and yy on the perimeter of AA that have a distance of at most 11 in the plane, their distance on AA (i.e. the smaller part of the perimeter of AA that lies between them) is at most p4\frac{p}{4}. We want to prove that a circle with radius 14\frac{1}{4} can be drawn entirely inside a rotund polygon.

Figure 1

Intellectuals of the Earth and researchers of the planet Hot Dog! have devised two completely different approaches to solve the problem. In both approaches a chord is a line segment with its end points lying on the perimeter of the polygon. A diameter is a chord with its endpoints being vertices of the polygon. An inner chord is a chord that lies entirely inside or on the perimeter of the polygon. The distance on the perimeter between two points on the polygon is defined as the length of the smaller part of the perimeter between them.

### The Earth approach: the maximum chord

We know as a fact that for each polygon, an inner chord xyxy with a length less than or equal to unity can be found such that for each inner chord xyx'y' with a length less than or equal to unity, the distance on the perimeter of xx and yy is greater than or equal to the distance on the perimeter of xx' and yy'. This chord is called the maximum chord. In a rotund polygon AoA_o there are two possibilities for the maximum chord:

a) First possibility: The length of the maximum chord equals unity. Prove that in this case a semicircle with the maximum chord as its diameter can fit completely inside the polygon AoA_o; therefore, a circle with radius 14\frac{1}{4} can be drawn entirely inside the polygon.

b) Second possibility: The length of the maximum chord is less than unity. Prove that still in this case one can find a circle with radius 14\frac{1}{4} that fits completely inside the polygon AoA_o.

Intellectuals of the Earth thought for many times that they have tackled the problem, but each time they noticed a small flaw in their proof, until they could finally solve it.

### The Hot Dog approach: triangulation

Consider the two statements below:

First statement: "For each arbitrary polygon with edges of at most unity length for which there are no circles of radius 1/41/4 that could be fit entirely inside it, it's possible to triangulate it with diameters of at most unit length."

Second statement: "For each arbitrary polygon that a circle of radius 1/41/4 cannot be fit entirely inside it, it's possible to triangulate it with chords of at most unit length."

Researchers of Hot Dog could prove that if the second statement is true, then one can draw a circle of radius 1/41/4 completely inside a rotund polygon.

c) Prove that if the second statement is true, then one can draw a circle of radius 1/41/4 completely inside a rotund polygon.

They could easily deduce that if the first statement is true, then the second one is also true. So they announced that a house full of Hot Dogs would be the reward of anyone who could prove the first statement! After a while, a young barber called J.N who considered himself to be from the Earth, succeeded in contradicting the first statement and was rewarded the house, as promised.

d) Construct a 1392-gon that contradicts the first statement.

Still, researchers of Hot Dog have the hope to prove the second statement directly.

e) Write anything that you think might be true about the second statement.

Solution

Throughout the solution the following notations will be used:

C1(a,b)C_1(a, b): The smaller part of the perimeter of the polygon which lies between aa and bb.

C2(a,b)C_2(a, b): The other part of the perimeter of the polygon joining aa and bb.

d(a,b)d(a, b): The length of C1(a,b)C_1(a, b).

[a,b][a, b]: A chord of the polygon whose end points are aa and bb.

a.
Let [x,y][x, y] be the maximum chord of AoA_o with unit length. Our aim is to show that in this case the semicircle with diameter [x,y][x, y], which is on the same side of [x,y][x, y] as C2(x,y)C_2(x, y), lies entirely inside AoA_o.

Lemma 1. C2(x,y)[x,y]={x,y}C_2(x, y) \cap [x, y] = \{x, y\}.

Proof. Assume that zC2(x,y)([x,y]{x,y})z \in C_2(x, y) \cap ([x, y] - \{x, y\}). Obviously [x,z][x, z] and [y,z][y, z] are both inner chords of AoA_o. Note that if yC1(x,z)y \in C_1(x, z), then d(x,z)>d(x,y)d(x, z) > d(x, y) which is a contradiction since chord [x,y][x, y] is maximal, hence yC1(x,z)y \notin C_1(x, z). Similarly, xC1(y,z)x \notin C_1(y, z). Therefore, C1(x,y)C_1(x, y), C1(y,z)C_1(y, z) and C1(z,x)C_1(z, x) form a partition of the perimeter of AoA_o. This leads to a contradiction because AoA_o is rotund and d(x,y)d(x, y), d(y,z)d(y, z) and d(z,x)d(z, x) are all less than p4\frac{p}{4} and consequently their sum is less than pp. \square

Lemma 2. The common part of C2(x,y)C_2(x, y) and edges of AoA_o that contain xx lies outside the semicircle mentioned above. A similar assertion holds for yy.

Proof. Assume to the contrary that zz is a point inside that semicircle, and it also lies on the common part of C2(x,y)C_2(x, y) and the edge containing xx such that d(x,z)d(x, z) is very small. By lemma 1, we can choose zz such that [y,z][y, z] intersects the perimeter of AoA_o only at yy and zz. Since d(x,y)p4d(x, y) \le \frac{p}{4} and zz is near to xx, yxz=C1(y,z)yxz = C_1(y, z) which is a contradiction with the maximality of [x,y][x, y]. \square

Lemma 3. xx and yy are the only intersection points of C2(x,y)C_2(x, y) and the semicircle.

Proof. Assume to the contrary that the intersection set is not empty. Let zz be a point in this set which has the minimum distance to the segment [x,y][x, y]. Note that by the above lemmas we know that this minimum is positive. We claim that [x,z][x, z] and [y,z][y, z] are both inner chords of AoA_o, because if not, there is another point of the polygon inside triangle xyzxyz, which contradicts the minimality of zz.
Rest of the proof is similar to that of lemma 1. yC1(x,z)y \notin C_1(x, z) and xC1(y,z)x \notin C_1(y, z), so C1(x,y)C_1(x, y), C1(y,z)C_1(y, z) and C1(z,x)C_1(z, x) form a partition of the perimeter of AoA_o, but we know that the length of each one is at most p4\frac{p}{4}. \square

Using lemma 3, C2(x,y)C_2(x, y) does not intersect the semicircle (except at xx and yy). Therefore, C1(x,y)C_1(x, y) does not intersect the semicircle because the polygon is not self-intersecting. Hence the semicircle fits completely inside AoA_o.

b.
Let [x,y][x, y] be the maximum chord. Draw semicircles of radius 11 and centers at xx and yy such that they are on the same side of line xyxy as C2(x,y)C_2(x, y). We claim that the common part of these two semicircles (say SS) fits completely inside AoA_o.

Lemma 4. C2(x,y)[x,y]={x,y}C_2(x, y) \cap [x, y] = \{x, y\}.

Proof. The proof is the same as that one given in part a. \square

Lemma 5. The common part of C2(x,y)C_2(x, y) and edges of AoA_o which contain xx lies outside of SS. A similar assertion holds for yy.

Proof. The proof is similar to the proof of lemma 2.
Assume to the contrary that zSz \in S is a point in the common part of C2(x,y)C_2(x, y) and the edge containing xx such that d(x,z)d(x, z) is very small. By lemma 4, we can choose zz such that [y,z][y, z] intersects the perimeter of AoA_o exactly at yy and zz. Since d(x,y)p4d(x, y) \le \frac{p}{4} and zz is near xx, yxz=C1(y,z)yxz = C_1(y, z) which contradicts the maximality of [x,y][x, y]. \square

Lemma 6. C2S={x,y}C_2 \cap S = \{x, y\}.

Proof. Assume to the contrary that there are points other than xx and yy in this intersection. Let zz be a point in this intersection which has the minimum distance from the segment [x,y][x, y]. By the above lemmas, we know that this minimum is positive. We claim that [x,z][x, z] and [y,z][y, z] are both inner chords of AoA_o, because if not, there exists another point of the polygon inside triangle xyzxyz which contradicts the minimality of zz. So [x,z][x, z] and [y,z][y, z] are both inner chords of AoA_o. But zz lies in SS, therefore the lengths of [x,z][x, z] and [y,z][y, z] are less than 11. This implies that d(x,z)d(x, z) and d(y,z)d(y, z) are both less than p4\frac{p}{4}.
Rest of the proof is similar to lemma 1. yC1(x,z)y \notin C_1(x, z) and xC1(y,z)x \notin C_1(y, z), so C1(x,y)C_1(x, y), C1(y,z)C_1(y, z) and C1(z,x)C_1(z, x) form a partition of the perimeter of AoA_o, but we know that the length of each one is at most p4\frac{p}{4}. \square

By lemma 6, C2(x,y)C_2(x, y) does not intersect the region SS (except at xx and yy). Therefore, C1(x,y)C_1(x, y) does not intersect SS because the polygon is not self-intersecting. Hence the region SS fits completely inside AoA_o. It is easy to see that a circle with radius 14\frac{1}{4} can be drawn entirely inside SS.

c.
Suppose that there exists a rotund polygon AA such that no circle of radius 14\frac{1}{4} completely fits inside it. By the second statement, there is a triangulation of the polygon with chords of at most unit length. Let xyxy be the chord of the triangulation that has the maximum d(x,y)d(x, y). There are two possibilities:

Case 1. There is no vertex of AA in C2(x,y)C_2(x, y) other than xx and yy. Therefore, [x,y][x, y] must be an edge of AA. Hence C2(x,y)=[x,y]C_2(x, y) = [x, y] and the length of C2(x,y)C_2(x, y) is less than C1(x,y)C_1(x, y) because of the triangle inequality which is a contradiction.

Case 2. There is another vertex of AA in C2(x,y)C_2(x, y) other than xx and yy. Therefore, there is some vertex zC2(x,y)z \in C_2(x, y) such that xyzxyz forms one of the triangles of the triangulation. Note that if yC1(x,z)y \in C_1(x, z), then d(x,z)>d(x,y)d(x, z) > d(x, y) and this contradicts the maximality of [x,y][x, y]. Thus yC2(x,z)y \in C_2(x, z) and similarly zC2(x,y)z \in C_2(x, y). Therefore, C1(x,y)C_1(x, y), C2(x,y)C_2(x, y) and C3(x,y)C_3(x, y) form a partition of the perimeter of AA. This is a contradiction because the lengths of all these parts are less than p4\frac{p}{4}.

Figure 2

d.
If ϵ\epsilon is sufficiently small, the following polygon is a counterexample for the first statement.

Figure 2

e.
[No specific answer provided.]

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