Problem:
The difference between the longest and shortest diagonals of the regular -gon equals its side. Find all possible .
Solution
Solution:
Answer:
For , there is at most one length of diagonal. For , the longest and shortest, and a side of the -gon form a triangle, so the difference between the longest and shortest is less than the side.
For the side has length , the shortest diagonal has length , and the longest diagonal has length for even and for odd (where is the radius of the circumcircle). Thus we require:
and even, or
and odd.
Evidently the lhs is a strictly decreasing function of and the rhs is an increasing function of , so there can be at most one solution of each equation. The second equation is satisfied by , although it is easier to see that there is a quadrilateral with the longest diagonal and shortest diagonals as one pair of opposite sides, and -gon sides as the other pair of opposite sides. The angle between the longest side and an adjacent side is , so that its length is the length of the shortest diagonal plus -gon side . Hence that is the only solution for odd.
For we have the same quadrilateral as for the -gon except that the angle is and hence the difference is less than . For , . So there are no solutions for even , and hence no solutions for even.