Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / All-Soviet-Union Mathematical Olympiad /86 of 185

All-Soviet-Union Mathematical Olympiad

Geometry Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it Soviet Union

Problem:
What is the greatest number of sides of a convex polygon that can equal its longest diagonal?

Solution

Solution:
Answer: 2, except for the equilateral triangle.
It is easy to find two. Take the two sides to be ABAB and ACAC with angle BAC=60∘BAC = 60^{\circ}, and take the other vertices on the minor arc of the circle center AA radius ABAB between BB and CC.

Let the longest diagonal have length kk. Suppose there are three sides with length kk. Extend them (if necessary) so they meet at AA, BB, CC. Suppose ∠A>60∘\angle A > 60^{\circ}. Take the vertices on side ABAB to be PP, QQ (where we may have P=AP = A, or Q=BQ = B, or both). Take the vertices on side ACAC to be RR, SS (where we may have R=AR = A, or S=CS = C, or both). Then AQ≥kAQ \geq k, AS≥kAS \geq k, so QS>kQS > k. Contradiction. Hence angle A≤60∘A \leq 60^{\circ}. The same is true for ∠B\angle B and ∠C\angle C. Hence ∠A=∠B=∠C=60∘\angle A = \angle B = \angle C = 60^{\circ}. But now QS>kQS > k unless A=P=RA = P = R. Similarly, BB and CC must be vertices of the convex polygon, so that it is just an equilateral triangle.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,604 problems in a working order, from Junior Challenge level to the IMO shortlist.

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