We call a spatial polygon (a polygon in the three dimensional space) Latticelike if its edges are parallel to the coordinate axes.
a) For an arbitrary Latticelike polygon, any two consecutive edges form a right angle that lies in either xy, yz or zx plane. Prove that the number of angles of these three kinds have the same parity. b) A Latticelike polygon is called an Inscribed Latticelike polygon if there exists a point in space that has equal distances from every vertex of the polygon. Prove that if a hexagon is not planar (i.e. there doesn't exist a plane containing all six vertices), then it's an Inscribed Latticelike polygon. c) Does there exist a Latticelike 2014-gon with distinct vertices for which there exists a plane that intersects every edge of it in an inner point (i.e. a point other than its two vertices)? d) a, b and c are three natural numbers greater than 1. Prove that one can find three points in plane having mutual distance equal to a, b and c, if and only if there exists a Latticelike polygon with a, b and c edges in each of the three coordinate directions.
Solution
First, we set some notations.
Description
A
Number of sides parallel to the x axis
B
Number of sides parallel to the y axis
C
Number of sides parallel to the z axis
X
Number of angles parallel to the yz plane
Y
Number of angles parallel to the zx plane
Z
Number of angles parallel to the xy plane
a) Consider a side parallel to the x axis. Two vertices of this side are vertices of two angles which are in the xy or zx plane. On the other hand, each angle parallel to the xy plane has a side parallel to the y axis and a side parallel to the x axis. Similar arguments for other directions imply Y+Z=2A,Z+X=2B,X+Y=2C Therefore, X, Y and Z have the same parity.
b) According to the part (a), we have two cases for a lattice hexagon which is not planar. ∙X=Y=Z=2. ∙{X,Y,Z}={0,2,4}. In the first case, we can divide the polygon into two rectangles. Now consider the lines l and l′ perpendicular to the plane of each rectangle at its center. The plane passing through the centers of these two rectangles and the midpoint of their common side is perpendicular to both of rectangle planes. Therefore, this plane contains lines l and l′. Since l and l′ are coplanar, they meet each other at some point O which has equal distance from all vertices of the polygon. In the second case, according to the equations of the part (a), we have only one side parallel to one of axes. But this is contradiction, because we must have at least two sides parallel to each coordinate axis.
c) There exists such polygon. We will use A1,A2,…,A2014 for its vertices. We define An=⎩⎨⎧(k,k,0)(k,k−1,0)(503−k,503−k,1)(503−k,503−k+1,1)n=2k+1,1≤n≤1007n=2k,1≤n≤1007n=1007+2k+1,1008≤n≤2014n=1007+2k,1008≤n≤2014 It is easy to see that the plane 2x−2y+2z=1 passes through the midpoints of all sides of the polygon.
d) Referring to the equations in the part (a), we have X+Y+2Z=2A+2B so 2C+2Z=2A+2B,C+Z=A+B hence C<A+B By similar arguments, we can show A<B+C and B<C+A. Hence, A, B and C are sides of a triangle. For the converse, suppose that we have a triangle with sides c≤b≤a. We set n=2b+c−a. First we draw b+a−c sides in the xy plane parallel to the x and y axes, alternatively (2b+a−c parallel to the x axis and 2b+a−c parallel to the y axis). Next, we 2c+a−b sides parallel to x and z axes. Now we have n number of sides parallel to the y and z axes remained. We can draw them to close the polygon.
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