Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 7.2 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it United States

Problem:

To dissect a polygon means to divide it into several regions by cutting along finitely many line segments. For example, the diagram below shows a dissection of a hexagon into two triangles and two quadrilaterals:

Figure 1

An integer-ratio right triangle is a right triangle whose side lengths are in an integer ratio. For example, a triangle with sides 3,4,53, 4, 5 is an integer-ratio right triangle, and so is a triangle with sides 523,63,1323\frac{5}{2} \sqrt{3}, 6 \sqrt{3}, \frac{13}{2} \sqrt{3}. On the other hand, the right triangle with sides 2,5,7\sqrt{2}, \sqrt{5}, \sqrt{7} is not an integer-ratio right triangle.

Determine, with proof, all integers nn for which it is possible to completely dissect a regular nn-sided polygon into integer-ratio right triangles.

Solution

Solution:

Abbreviate integer-ratio right triangle by IRRT.

The square (n=4)(n=4) has such a decomposition. For example, a 12×1212 \times 12 square can be cut into twenty-four 3-4-5 triangles as shown below:

Figure 2

Now we show that n=4n=4 is the only solution. The proof is by contradiction. Suppose an nn-gon with n4n \neq 4 (and n3n \geq 3) has a dissection into IRRTs. Choose an arbitrary vertex PP of the nn-gon. One or more IRRTs meet at PP; let their internal angles at PP be θ1,θ2,,θk\theta_{1}, \theta_{2}, \ldots, \theta_{k}, where we have
θ1+θ2++θk=n2nπ. \theta_{1}+\theta_{2}+\cdots+\theta_{k}=\frac{n-2}{n} \cdot \pi .
Observe that sinθi\sin \theta_{i} and cosθi\cos \theta_{i} are rational for each i=1,,ki=1, \ldots, k. By applying angle-sum identities, we may infer that the sine and cosine of n2nπ\frac{n-2}{n} \cdot \pi, and thus of 2π/n2 \pi / n, are rational as well. Applying angle-sum identities again, it follows that for any divisor mm of nn, the sine and cosine of 2π/m2 \pi / m are also rational. Since n4n \neq 4 and n3,nn \geq 3, n has a divisor which is either 8 or an odd prime. So, we can restrict our attention to these two cases.

For n=8n=8, we have sin(2π/8)=2/2\sin (2 \pi / 8)=\sqrt{2} / 2. This is irrational, so we have our contradiction.

Now we consider the case n=pn=p where pp is an odd prime. Let t=tan(2π/p)t=\tan (2 \pi / p), which must be rational. By the multiple-angle identity for tangents, tt satisfies
pt(p3)t3+(p5)t5±tp=0 p t-\left(\begin{array}{l} p \\ 3 \end{array}\right) t^{3}+\left(\begin{array}{c} p \\ 5 \end{array}\right) t^{5}-\cdots \pm t^{p}=0
By the Rational Root Theorem, the only possible rational values of tt are t=±1t= \pm 1 and t=±pt= \pm p. But t±1t \neq \pm 1, because 2πpπ4,3π4,5π4,7π4\frac{2 \pi}{p} \neq \frac{\pi}{4}, \frac{3 \pi}{4}, \frac{5 \pi}{4}, \frac{7 \pi}{4}. If t=±pt= \pm p, then the left-hand side of (2) is congruent to p2(modp3)p^{2}\left(\bmod p^{3}\right) and thus cannot equal 0. Again, we have a contradiction.

It follows that no nn-gon with n4n \neq 4 has a dissection into IRRTs.

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