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Geometry Difficulty 7.7 National olympiad, round 2 Find the answer

Find all positive integers n n having the following properties:in two-dimensional Cartesian coordinates, there exists a convex n n lattice polygon whose lengths of all sides are odd numbers, and unequal to each other. (where lattice polygon is defined as polygon whose coordinates of all vertices are integers in Cartesian coordinates.)

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

To find all positive integers n n such that there exists a convex n n -lattice polygon with all side lengths being odd numbers and unequal to each other, we need to analyze the conditions given.

First, note that a lattice polygon is defined as a polygon whose vertices have integer coordinates in the Cartesian plane. The convexity condition implies that the polygon does not have any internal angles greater than 180180^\circ.

We need to show that the side lengths are all odd and distinct. We start by constructing specific examples for small values of n n :

1. **For n=4 n = 4 :**
Consider the vectors [3,4][3, 4], [3,4][3, -4], [8,15][8, 15], and [20,21][20, 21]. These vectors can be scaled appropriately to form a quadrilateral with odd side lengths. For instance, scaling by appropriate factors ensures that the sum of the vectors results in a closed polygon.

2. **For n=6 n = 6 :**
Consider the vectors [1000137,0][-1000137, 0], [1000001,0][1000001, 0], [12,5][12, 5], [24,7][24, -7], [40,9][40, -9], and [60,11][60, 11]. These vectors can be arranged to form a hexagon with odd side lengths, ensuring that the sum of the vectors results in a closed polygon.

By combining these constructions, we can generalize the result for any even n4 n \geq 4 . Specifically, if we have polygons with a a and b b edges, any nonnegative linear combination of a a and b b will also work. This is because we can concatenate the polygons at a vertex and scale one of them by a large odd factor to preserve the conditions.

Therefore, the necessary and sufficient condition is that n n must be an even integer greater than or equal to 4. Thus, the positive integers n n that satisfy the given conditions are:

{nZ+n4 and n is even}. \boxed{\{ n \in \mathbb{Z}^+ \mid n \geq 4 \text{ and } n \text{ is even} \}}.

The answer is: \boxed{\text{even } n \geq 4}.

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