Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 4.4 AIME Prove it United States

Problem:
Let PP be a 20232023-sided polygon. All but one side has length 11. What is the maximum possible area of PP?

Solution

Solution:
First, we claim PP must be convex to maximize its area. If not, let AA and BB be consecutive vertices on the perimeter of its convex hull that aren't consecutive vertices of PP. Reflecting the path between AA and BB over line ABAB must increase the area of PP as the new shape strictly contains PP.

Thus we assume PP is convex. Let \ell be the line containing the side with length not equal to 11. Let PP' be the reflection of PP over \ell. By convexity, PP and PP' do not overlap, so the union of PP and PP' is a polygon, specifically an equilateral 40444044-gon with sides of length 11.

The area of an equilateral polygon is maximized when it is regular, so this union has maximum area that of a regular 40444044-gon, which is 1011cotπ40441011 \cot \dfrac{\pi}{4044}. Thus, the answer is half of this, i.e.
10112cotπ4044 \frac{1011}{2} \cdot \cot \frac{\pi}{4044}

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