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Geometry Difficulty 6.3 National olympiad Prove it Argentina

Which regular nn-gons have a triangulation consisting of isosceles triangles?

Solution

Call nn good if the regular nn-gon can be triangulated with isosceles triangles. By segments we mean the sides and the diagonals of the nn-gon; the sides are the shortest among all segments.

Let nn be good and TT an isosceles triangulation of the regular nn-gon PP. Suppose that the base of a triangle ΔT\Delta \in T is a side aa of PP. Then the vertex of Δ\Delta opposing aa is on the perpendicular bisector of aa, which passes through the center of PP, and also the circumcircle of PP. Hence nn is odd and the center of PP is interior to Δ\Delta, implying that such a triangle Δ\Delta is unique.

Let nn be even. Then sides are the shortest segments and none of them is a base of a triangle of TT. So all of them are divided into pairs of consecutive ones, and each pair contains the equal sides of a triangle of TT. Deleting these n2\frac{n}{2} isosceles triangles leaves a regular n2\frac{n}{2}-gon which therefore also admits of an isosceles triangulation. It follows that an even n6n \ge 6 is good if and only if so is n2\frac{n}{2}.

Let nn be odd. Then the sides cannot be paired up like in the even case, one of them must be a base of a triangle Δ\Delta from TT as explained earlier. The equal sides of Δ\Delta are diagonals of PP (longest ones). Removing Δ\Delta leaves two congruent polygons which must have isosceles triangulations. Let P1P_1 be one of them. It has n1=12(n(n+1))n_1 = \frac{1}{2}(n(n+1)) sides; thus n1n_1 is good. One of the sides is a diagonal d1d_1, the rest are sides of PP, hence shorter. So d1d_1 is a base of a triangle Δ1\Delta_1 of TT, and its opposite vertex divides the remaining n13n_1 - 3 vertices into two equal halves. It follows that n1n_1 is odd. Remove Δ1\Delta_1 from P1P_1 and denote by P2P_2 one of the two obtained congruent polygons with n2=12(n4+1)n_2 = \frac{1}{2}(n_4 + 1) sides; n2n_2 is good. The same argument applies to P2P_2 because one of its sides is a diagonal d2d_2, and the rest are sides of PP. We conclude that n2n_2 is odd then define n3=12(n2+1)n_3 = \frac{1}{2}(n_2 + 1), and so on. Thus each of the numbers n>n1>n2>n > n_1 > n_2 > \dots is odd and good, as long as it is 3\ge 3. Let kk be such that nk3>nk+1n_k \ge 3 > n_{k+1}. If nk+1=1n_{k+1} = 1 then nk=1n_k = 1 which is false. So nk+1=2n_{k+1} = 2 and so nk=3n_k = 3. Write nk=3=21+1n_k = 3 = 2^1 + 1 and backwards to obtain nk1=22+1n_{k-1} = 2^2 + 1 and likewise nk2=23+1n_{k-2} = 2^3 + 1, ..., n1=2k+1n_1 = 2^k + 1, n=2k+1+1n = 2^{k+1} + 1. Therefore n1n-1 is a power of 2. In addition the steps of the argument imply a construction showing that the converse is also true.

To sum up, consider two cases for a general nn. If n4n \ge 4 is a power of 2, n=2mn = 2^m with m2m \ge 2, then it is good if and only if so are 2m1,2m2,,22=42^{m-1}, 2^{m-2}, \dots, 2^2 = 4. Since the square has an isosceles triangulation, the powers of 2 are good. If n3n \ge 3 is not a power of 2 then n=2mn = 2^m with k3k \ge 3 odd and m0m \ge 0. By the above, nn is good if and only if so is kk, and the latter holds if and only if kk is of the form k=2l+1k = 2^l + 1 with l1l \ge 1. Hence n=2n+2ln = 2^n + 2^l with u>v0u > v \ge 0. In conclusion the good numbers are 2m2^m with m2m \ge 2 and 2n+2l2^n + 2^l with u>v0u > v \ge 0.

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