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Geometry Difficulty 4.5 AIME Prove it Japan

Let ABCDEFGABCDEFG be a regular heptagon. Suppose PP, QQ, RR, SS are points on the line segments ABAB, BCBC, CDCD, EFEF, respectively, for which BP=CQ=DR=FS=13BP = CQ = DR = FS = \frac{1}{3} are satisfied. Let TT be the point of intersection of the line segments PRPR and QSQS. Find the value of PTS\angle PTS.

Here by XYXY we mean the length of the line segment XYXY.

Figure 1

Solution

7207\boxed{\frac{720^{\circ}}{7}}

Let UU, VV, WW be points on the sides DEDE, FGFG, GAGA, respectively, dividing respective side in 2:12 : 1 ratio. Then, it is easy to see that PQRUSVWPQRUSVW becomes also a regular heptagon. Hence these 77 points lie on the circumference of a same circle, and divides the circumference into 77 arcs of equal length. From this it follows that PRS\angle PRS is 12\frac{1}{2} of the angle subtended by the arc PWVSPWVS of the circum-circle of this heptagon at its center, and thus PRS=1237360\angle PRS = \frac{1}{2} \cdot \frac{3}{7} \cdot 360^{\circ}. Similarly, we have QSR=1217360\angle QSR = \frac{1}{2} \cdot \frac{1}{7} \cdot 360^{\circ}. Consequently, we get PTS=PRS+QSR=7207\angle PTS = \angle PRS + \angle QSR = \frac{720^{\circ}}{7}.

Figure 2

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