Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it

10. (NET 3) IMO2 { }^{\text {IMO2 }} Prove that for each n4n \geq 4 every cyclic quadrilateral can be decomposed into nn cyclic quadrilaterals.

Solution

10. Consider first a triangle. It can be decomposed into k=3k=3 cyclic quadrilaterals by perpendiculars from some interior point of it to the sides; also, it can be decomposed into a cyclic quadrilateral and a triangle, and it follows by induction that this decomposition is possible for every kk. Since every triangle can be cut into two triangles, the required decomposition is possible for each n6n \geq 6. It remains to treat the cases n=4n=4 and n=5n=5. n=4n=4. If the center OO of the circumcircle is inside a cyclic quadrilateral ABCDA B C D, then the required decomposition is effected by perpendiculars from OO to the four sides. Otherwise, let CC and DD be the vertices of the obtuse angles of the quadrilateral. Draw the perpendiculars at CC and DD to the lines BCB C and ADA D respectively, and choose points PP and QQ on them such that PQABP Q \| A B. Then the required decomposition is effected by CP,PQ,QDC P, P Q, Q D and the perpendiculars from PP and QQ to ABA B. n=5n=5. If ABCDA B C D is an isosceles trapezoid with ABCDA B \| C D and AD=BCA D=B C, then it is trivially decomposed by lines parallel to ABA B. Otherwise, ABCDA B C D can be decomposed into a cyclic quadrilateral and a trapezoid; this trapezoid can be cut into an isosceles trapezoid and a triangle, which can further be cut into three cyclic quadrilaterals and an isosceles trapezoid. Remark. It can be shown that the assertion is not true for n=2n=2 and n=3n=3.

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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.