Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /561 of 740

, 2019

Geometry Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
A convex 2019-gon A1A2A2019A_{1} A_{2} \ldots A_{2019} is cut into smaller pieces along its 2019 diagonals of the form AiAi+3A_{i} A_{i+3} for 1i20191 \leq i \leq 2019, where A2020=A1A_{2020}=A_{1}, A2021=A2A_{2021}=A_{2}, and A2022=A3A_{2022}=A_{3}. What is the least possible number of resulting pieces?

Solution

Solution:
Each time we draw in a diagonal, we create one new region, plus one new region for each intersection on that diagonal. So, the number of regions will be
1+(number of diagonals)+(number of intersections) 1+ (\text{number of diagonals}) + (\text{number of intersections})
where (number of intersections) counts an intersection of three diagonals twice. Since no four diagonals can pass through a point, the only nonconstant term in our expression is the last one. To minimize this term, we want to maximize the number of triples of diagonals passing through the same point. Consider the set SS of triples of diagonals AnAn+3A_{n} A_{n+3} that intersect at a single point. Each triple in SS must come from three consecutive diagonals, and two different triples can only have one diagonal in common, so SS has at most20192=1009\operatorname{most}\left\lfloor\frac{2019}{2}\right\rfloor=1009 triples. Hence the number of resulting pieces is at least
1+2019+(220191009)=5049 1 + 2019 + (2 \cdot 2019 - 1009) = 5049
To show that 5049 is attainable, we use the following construction. Let B1B1010B_{1} \ldots B_{1010} be a regular 1010-gon, and let n\ell_{n} denote the external angle bisector of Bn1BnBn+1\angle B_{n-1} B_{n} B_{n+1}. Let A1=B1009B1010B1B2A_{1}=\overleftrightarrow{B_{1009} B_{1010}} \cap \overleftrightarrow{B_{1} B_{2}}, A2018=B1008B1009B1010B1A_{2018}=\overleftrightarrow{B_{1008} B_{1009}} \cap \overleftrightarrow{B_{1010} B_{1}}, A2019=11009A_{2019}=\ell_{1} \cap \ell_{1009}, and for n=1,,1008n=1, \ldots, 1008, define A2n=n+1Bn1BnA_{2n}=\ell_{n+1} \cap \overleftrightarrow{B_{n-1} B_{n}} and A2n+1=nBn+1Bn+2A_{2n+1}=\ell_{n} \cap \overleftrightarrow{B_{n+1} B_{n+2}}. It follows that, for all n=0,,1008n=0, \ldots, 1008, A2n1A2n+2\overline{A_{2n-1} A_{2n+2}}, A2nA2n+3\overline{A_{2n} A_{2n+3}}, and A2n+1A2n+4\overline{A_{2n+1} A_{2n+4}} intersect at Bn+1B_{n+1}.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.