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Geometry Difficulty 7.5 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Middle European Mathematical Olympiad (MEMO)

Problem:

Let n3n \geq 3 be an integer. We say that a vertex AiA_{i} (1in1 \leq i \leq n) of a convex polygon A1A2AnA_{1} A_{2} \ldots A_{n} is Bohemian if its reflection with respect to the midpoint of the segment Ai1Ai+1A_{i-1} A_{i+1} (with A0=AnA_{0}=A_{n} and An+1=A1A_{n+1}=A_{1}) lies inside or on the boundary of the polygon A1A2AnA_{1} A_{2} \ldots A_{n}. Determine the smallest possible number of Bohemian vertices a convex nn-gon can have (depending on nn).

(A convex polygon A1A2AnA_{1} A_{2} \ldots A_{n} has nn vertices with all inner angles smaller than 180180^{\circ}.)

Solutions — 3

Solution 1

Solution:

The answer is n3n-3.

Lemma. If ABCDABCD is a convex quadrilateral with BAD+CBAπ\angle BAD + \angle CBA \geq \pi and BAD+ADCπ\angle BAD + \angle ADC \geq \pi then AA is a Bohemian vertex of ABCDABCD.

Proof. Let EE be the reflection of AA in ABCDABCD. It is clearly seen that EE belongs to the halfplanes containing CC determined by lines ABAB and ADAD. Since BAD+CBAπ\angle BAD + \angle CBA \geq \pi and BAD+EBA=π\angle BAD + \angle EBA = \pi, point EE belongs to the (closed) halfplane containing points A,DA, D determined by the line BCBC. Analogously, using the assumption BAD+ADC\angle BAD + \angle ADC we infer that EE belongs to the closed halfplane containing points A,BA, B determined by the line CDCD.

Figure 1

Therefore EE lies inside or on the boundary of ABCDABCD. Thus AA is Bohemian.

Consider a convex nn-gon A1A2AnA_{1} A_{2} \ldots A_{n}. Choose any four vertices Ai,Aj,Ak,AlA_{i}, A_{j}, A_{k}, A_{l} with i<j<k<li < j < k < l as in the picture below. Consider quadrilateral AiAjAkAlA_{i} A_{j} A_{k} A_{l}. It is clear that one of the points Ai,Aj,Ak,AlA_{i}, A_{j}, A_{k}, A_{l} satisfies the assumption of the lemma, let's say this point is AiA_{i}. We claim that AiA_{i} satisfies the assumption of the lemma in quadrilateral Ai1AiAi+1AkA_{i-1} A_{i} A_{i+1} A_{k}. Observe that the point X:=AkAi+1AiAi1X := A_{k}A_{i+1} \cap A_{i}A_{i-1} lies in the triangle bounded by lines AkAj,AjAiA_{k}A_{j}, A_{j}A_{i} and AiAlA_{i}A_{l}. So
AkAi+1Ai+Ai+1AiAi1=π+AkXAiπ \angle A_{k}A_{i+1}A_{i} + \angle A_{i+1}A_{i}A_{i-1} = \pi + \angle A_{k}XA_{i} \geq \pi
(Note: it may happen that XX does not exist. It happens iff j=i+1,l=i1j = i+1, l = i-1 and AkAjAlAiA_{k}A_{j} \parallel A_{l}A_{i}. In that case AkAi+1Ai+Ai+1AiAi1=π\angle A_{k}A_{i+1}A_{i} + \angle A_{i+1}A_{i}A_{i-1} = \pi.)

Analogously Ai+1AiAi1+AiAi1Akπ\angle A_{i+1}A_{i}A_{i-1} + \angle A_{i}A_{i-1}A_{k} \geq \pi. Using the lemma we conclude that AiA_{i} is a Bohemian vertex of quadrilateral Ai1AiAi+1AkA_{i-1}A_{i}A_{i+1}A_{k}. This implies that AiA_{i} is a Bohemian vertex of A1A2AnA_{1}A_{2}\ldots A_{n} since the quadrilateral Ai1AiAi+1AkA_{i-1}A_{i}A_{i+1}A_{k} is a subset of the nn-gon and the reflection point is the same.

Figure 2

Therefore, amongst any four vertices of a convex nn-gon there exists a Bohemian vertex. So, every nn-gon has at least n3n-3 Bohemian vertices.

An example of a convex nn-gon with exactly n3n-3 Bohemian vertices is the following: take any kite A1A2A3A4A_{1}A_{2}A_{3}A_{4} with A4A1=A1A2<A2A3=A3A4A_{4}A_{1} = A_{1}A_{2} < A_{2}A_{3} = A_{3}A_{4} and place points A5,,AnA_{5}, \ldots, A_{n} very close to A1A_{1}. Then A2,A3,A4A_{2}, A_{3}, A_{4} are not Bohemian vertices of A1A2AnA_{1}A_{2}\ldots A_{n}.

Solution 2

Solution:

We present a sketch of an alternative proof of the fact that every nn-gon has at least n3n-3 Bohemian vertices.

Observation 1. Let us place the polygon into a coordinate system in such a way that A1=[0,0]A_{1} = [0,0], A2=[a,0]A_{2} = [a, 0], a>0a > 0 and the second coordinates of all the remaining vertices are positive. If all the remaining vertices A2,,AnA_{2}, \ldots, A_{n} have their first coordinates between 00 and aa (see picture below), it is easy to see that the only vertices that could be non-Bohemian are A1,A2A_{1}, A_{2}, and the point with the strictly largest second coordinate (if such a vertex exists). So, in this case, there exist at least n3n-3 Bohemian vertices.

Figure 3

Observation 2. An affine transformation does not change anything, so the statement is proved for all polygons that lie between two parallel lines that go through two adjacent vertices, i.e., whenever there are two adjacent vertices with sum of their angles at most 180180^{\circ}.

Consider now any polygon P=A1A2,,AnP = A_{1}A_{2}, \ldots, A_{n}.

Observation 3. If there are two (non-adjacent) vertices Ai,AjA_{i}, A_{j} and two parallel lines pi,pjp_{i}, p_{j} with Aipi,AjpjA_{i} \in p_{i}, A_{j} \in p_{j} such that the whole polygon lies between pip_{i} and pjp_{j}, then the diagonal AiAjA_{i}A_{j} splits PP into two polygons of the type considered in Observation 2. By Observations 1 and 2, these two polygons have at most 4 non-Bohemian points together, Ai,AjA_{i}, A_{j}, and two more.

Observation 4. For any vertex AiA_{i} there exist a vertex AjA_{j} and two parallel lines pip_{i} and pjp_{j} with Aipi,AjpjA_{i} \in p_{i}, A_{j} \in p_{j} such that the whole polygon lies between them. In fact, take a line pip_{i} such that piP={Ai}p_{i} \cap P = \{A_{i}\}, then AjA_{j} is the vertex with maximal distance from pip_{i}, if there are two such vertices, change the direction of pip_{i} slightly to obtain a unique AjA_{j}.

Let n=4n = 4. Then there exist two adjacent vertices with sum of their angles not larger than 180180^{\circ}, so, by Observation 2, any quadrilateral has at most 3 non-Bohemian vertices.

Let n5n \geq 5. By Observations 3 and 4, there exist at most 4 non-Bohemian vertices. So, at least one vertex is Bohemian, denote it by AiA_{i}. Then, by Observations 3 and 4, all the non-Bohemian vertices are contained in the quadruple Ai,AjA_{i}, A_{j} and some other two vertices. Since AiA_{i} is Bohemian, there are at most three non-Bohemian vertices and the proof is complete.

Solution 3

Solution:

We prove by induction that every nn-gon has at least n3n-3 Bohemian vertices.

Step 1, n=4n=4. We show that every quadrilateral ABCDABCD has at least one Bohemian vertex. We consider a triangle ABCABC. Then DD has to be in one of the areas P1,P2,P3,P4P_{1}, P_{2}, P_{3}, P_{4} (see picture below), otherwise, ABCDABCD would not be a convex quadrilateral. If DD were in P2P_{2}, then BB would be Bohemian. If DD were in P3P_{3}, it would be Bohemian. If DD were in P1P_{1}, then AA would be Bohemian and similarly if DD were in P4P_{4}, then CC would be Bohemian (the last two cases are not immediate but easy to prove).

Figure 4

Induction step. Consider an nn-gon P=A1A2AnP = A_{1}A_{2}\ldots A_{n} with n5n \geq 5. Let PP' be an (n1)(n-1)-gon obtained from PP by omitting one vertex different from A1A_{1}. Let A1A_{1}' be the reflection of A1A_{1} in PP and A1A_{1}'' the reflection of A1A_{1} in PP'. We show the following statement
if A1 is non-Bohemian in P, then it is non-Bohemian also in P. \text{if } A_{1} \text{ is non-Bohemian in } P, \text{ then it is non-Bohemian also in } P'.
This statement is obvious if the omitted vertex is not adjacent to A1A_{1} (since in this case A1=A1A_{1}' = A_{1}'' and PPP' \subset P). So, let the omitted vertex be AnA_{n} (the other neighbour A2A_{2} can be done in the same way) and let us assume for contradiction that A1PA_{1}' \notin P and A1PA_{1}'' \in P'. Let us observe that vectors AnAn1A_{n}A_{n-1} and A1A1A_{1}'A_{1}'' are equal. Let us discuss the possible position of An1A_{n-1}. If An1Q3Q4A_{n-1} \in Q_{3} \cup Q_{4} (as in the picture below) then A1A_{1}'' lies below the line AnAn1A_{n}A_{n-1} while the whole polygon PP lies above this line, contradiction with A1PPA_{1}'' \in P' \subset P. If An1Q2A_{n-1} \in Q_{2}, then A1A2AnAn1PA_{1}' \in \triangle A_{2}A_{n}A_{n-1} \subset P, contradiction. If An1Q1A_{n-1} \in Q_{1}, then the new reflection A1Q2A_{1}'' \in Q_{2} and A1A2AnA1A_{1}' \in \triangle A_{2}A_{n}A_{1}'' and A2AnA1P\triangle A_{2}A_{n}A_{1}'' \subset P' since A1PA_{1}'' \in P'. Therefore A1PPA_{1}' \in P' \subset P, contradiction. Statement (S) is proved.

Figure 5

Since (by the induction hypothesis) there are at most 3 non-Bohemian vertices in PP', there are at most 4 non-Bohemian vertices in PP (the three and the omitted one). Since n5n \geq 5 there is at least one Bohemian vertex in PP. Assume now that PP' is obtained from PP by omitting a Bohemian vertex. Since there are at most 3 non-Bohemian vertices in PP', there are at most 3 non-Bohemian vertices in PP and the proof is complete.

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