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Geometry Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Prove it

Let n>1n>1 be an integer. Suppose we are given 2n2 n points in a plane such that no three of them are collinear. The points are to be labelled A1,A2,,A2nA_{1}, A_{2}, \ldots, A_{2 n} in some order. We then consider the 2n2 n angles A1A2A3,A2A3A4,,A2n2A2n1A2n,A2n1A2nA1\angle A_{1} A_{2} A_{3}, \angle A_{2} A_{3} A_{4}, \ldots, \angle A_{2 n-2} A_{2 n-1} A_{2 n}, \angle A_{2 n-1} A_{2 n} A_{1}, A2nA1A2\angle A_{2 n} A_{1} A_{2}. We measure each angle in the way that gives the smallest positive value (i.e. between 00^{\circ} and 180180^{\circ} ). Prove that there exists an ordering of the given points such that the resulting 2n2 n angles can be separated into two groups with the sum of one group of angles equal to the sum of the other group. Comment. The first three solutions all use the same construction involving a line separating the points into groups of nn points each, but give different proofs that this construction works. Although Solution 1 is very short, the Problem Selection Committee does not believe any of the solutions is easy to find and thus rates this as a problem of medium difficulty.

Solution

Let \ell be a line separating the points into two groups ( LL and RR ) with nn points in each. Label the points A1,A2,,A2nA_{1}, A_{2}, \ldots, A_{2 n} so that L={A1,A3,,A2n1}L=\left\{A_{1}, A_{3}, \ldots, A_{2 n-1}\right\}. We claim that this labelling works. Take a line s=A2nA1s=A_{2 n} A_{1}. (a) Rotate ss around A1A_{1} until it passes through A2A_{2}; the rotation is performed in a direction such that ss is never parallel to \ell. (b) Then rotate the new ss around A2A_{2} until it passes through A3A_{3} in a similar manner. (c) Perform 2n22 n-2 more such steps, after which ss returns to its initial position. The total (directed) rotation angle Θ\Theta of ss is clearly a multiple of 180180^{\circ}. On the other hand, ss was never parallel to \ell, which is possible only if Θ=0\Theta=0. Now it remains to partition all the 2n2 n angles into those where ss is rotated anticlockwise, and the others.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.