Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 4.1 AIME Find the answer United States

Problem:

The roots of z6+z4+z2+1=0z^{6}+z^{4}+z^{2}+1=0 are the vertices of a convex polygon in the complex plane. Find the sum of the squares of the side lengths of the polygon.

Answer: 124212-4 \sqrt{2}

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Solution:

Factoring the polynomial as (z4+1)(z2+1)=0(z^{4}+1)(z^{2}+1)=0, we find that the 6 roots are e±iπ/4e^{ \pm i \pi / 4}, e±iπ/2e^{ \pm i \pi / 2}, e±i3π/4e^{ \pm i 3 \pi / 4}. The calculation then follows from the Law of Cosines or the distance formula.

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