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Geometry Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Prove it Mongolia

Given nn-gon PP inscribed in the unit circle.

a) Show that there exist a point lie on the unit circle such that multiplication of distances between above point and for every vertices of PP greater than or equal to 22.

b) If there is not exist a point in the unit circle such that multiplication of distances between above point and for every vertices of PP greater than 22 then prove that PP is regular.

(proposed by N. Byambajav)

Solution

If z1,z2,,znz_1, z_2, \dots, z_n are vertices of PP then z1=z2==zn=1|z_1| = |z_2| = \dots = |z_n| = 1. By the rotation we can assume that i=1nzi=1\prod_{i=1}^n z_i = 1. We know that

wz1wz2wzn=(wz1)(wzn)|w-z_1| \cdot |w-z_2| \cdots |w-z_n| = |(w-z_1)\cdots(w-z_n)|.

Let P(w)=i=1n(wzi)P(w) = \prod_{i=1}^n (w-z_i) and P(w)=wn+Q(w)+1P(w) = w^n + Q(w) + 1, here Q(w)=an1wn1++a1wQ(w) = a_{n-1}w^{n-1} + \dots + a_1w.

Consider the nnth roots of unity ϵ0,ϵ1,,ϵn1\epsilon_0, \epsilon_1, \dots, \epsilon_{n-1}. Therefore s=0n1ϵs=0\sum_{s=0}^{n-1} \epsilon^s = 0.

Here s≢0(modn)s \not\equiv 0 \pmod{n} we get
i=1n1Q(ϵi)=j=1n1(aji=0n1ϵj)=0 \sum_{i=1}^{n-1} Q(\epsilon_i) = \sum_{j=1}^{n-1} \left( a_j \cdot \sum_{i=0}^{n-1} \epsilon^j \right) = 0

a) Assume to the contrary. If there exist ii such that Q(ϵi)=ai+biQ(\epsilon_i) = a_i + b_i, ai>0a_i > 0 then
P(ϵi)=ϵin+1+Q(ϵi)=2+ai+bii, P(\epsilon_i) = \epsilon_i^n + 1 + Q(\epsilon_i) = 2 + a_i + b_i \cdot i,
thus we have P(ϵi)>2|P(\epsilon_i)| > 2. Hence Q(ϵi)=biiQ(\epsilon_i) = b_i \cdot i for arbitrary ii. Because we have i=0n1ai=0\sum_{i=0}^{n-1} a_i = 0 and all of aia_i is less than or equal to zero, thus ai=0a_i = 0 for arbitrary ii. Now suppose that for arbitrary ii: bi0b_i \neq 0 then
P(ϵi)=ϵin+1+Q(ϵi)=2+bii. P(\epsilon_i) = \epsilon_i^n + 1 + Q(\epsilon_i) = 2 + b_i \cdot i.
So P(ϵi)>2|P(\epsilon_i)| > 2. This leads contradiction.

Now for arbitrary ii, we have Q(ϵi)=0Q(\epsilon_i) = 0, i=0,n1i = \overline{0, n-1}. But degQ(w)=n1\deg Q(w) = n-1, hence Q(w)Q(w) is zero polynomial.
Thus P(w)=wn+1P(w) = w^n + 1, we get P(ϵi)=ϵin+1=2|P(\epsilon_i)| = |\epsilon_i^n + 1| = 2

Figure 1

b) From part a), the multiplication greater than or equal to 22, it must be P(w)=wn+1P(w) = w^n + 1, wn+1=0w^n + 1 = 0 equation's solutions are
zi=cos2π2n(2k+1)+isin2π2n(2k+1),k=0,n1 z_i = \cos \frac{2\pi}{2n}(2k + 1) + i \sin \frac{2\pi}{2n}(2k + 1), \quad k = \overline{0, n-1}

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