Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Ukraine

The convex polygon MM is given. There is a square KK, that contains MM inside and has the minimum possible area. Is it obligatory for at least one of the sides of a square KK to contain one of the sides of the polygon MM?
(Bogdan Rublyov)

Solution

Let's consider the smallest tangential square, that is circumscribed around the equilateral triangle ABC\triangle ABC (Fig. 46). And the side of the square contains the side of the triangle ACAC. It's clear, that it will be a square ADECADEC and the edge BB is located inside the square. Then let's make a small turn of the square around the edge AA. Let it be the square ATUVATUV. So, the edge CC will be inside the new square. It's clear from the Fig. 46, if to continue the line ACAC till the intersection with UVUV at some point CC', then at AVC\triangle AVC' ACAC' is a hypotenuse, so, AC>AV=ACAC' > AV = AC. That's why we can make a small compression of the ATUVATUV (homothety with the center at the point AA and coefficient k<1k < 1, but close enough to 11), after which the area of the square will become smaller, but it will still cover the triangle ABC\triangle ABC.

Figure 1
Fig. 46

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