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Geometry Difficulty 6.3 National olympiad Find the answer

Let PP be a regular nn-gon A1A2AnA_1A_2\ldots A_n. Find all positive integers nn such that for each permutation σ(1),σ(2),,σ(n)\sigma (1),\sigma (2),\ldots ,\sigma (n) there exists 1i,j,kn1\le i,j,k\le n such that the triangles AiAjAkA_{i}A_{j}A_{k} and Aσ(i)Aσ(j)Aσ(k)A_{\sigma (i)}A_{\sigma (j)}A_{\sigma (k)} are both acute, both right or both obtuse.

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

Solution

Let P P be a regular n n -gon A1A2An A_1A_2\ldots A_n . We aim to find all positive integers n n such that for each permutation σ(1),σ(2),,σ(n) \sigma(1), \sigma(2), \ldots, \sigma(n) , there exists 1i,j,kn 1 \le i, j, k \le n such that the triangles AiAjAk A_iA_jA_k and Aσ(i)Aσ(j)Aσ(k) A_{\sigma(i)}A_{\sigma(j)}A_{\sigma(k)} are both acute, both right, or both obtuse.

Consider first a regular 2n 2n -gon for n2 n \ge 2 . Let Ai A_i and Aj A_j be two vertices which are diametrically opposite. If Aσ(i) A_{\sigma(i)} and Aσ(j) A_{\sigma(j)} are still diametrically opposite, then any third vertex Ak A_k will work since AiAkAj=90=Aσ(i)Aσ(k)Aσ(j) \angle A_iA_kA_j = 90^\circ = \angle A_{\sigma(i)}A_{\sigma(k)}A_{\sigma(j)} .

Otherwise, let Ak A_k be the vertex such that Aσ(k) A_{\sigma(k)} is diametrically opposite to Aσ(i) A_{\sigma(i)} . Then AiAkAj=90=Aσ(i)Aσ(j)Aσ(k) \angle A_iA_kA_j = 90^\circ = \angle A_{\sigma(i)}A_{\sigma(j)}A_{\sigma(k)} . Note that this is trivially true for an equilateral triangle, but it is false for a regular pentagon (consider ABCDE ABCDE and ADBEC A'D'B'E'C' ).

Consider now a regular 2n+1 2n+1 -gon for n3 n \ge 3 . Clearly, there are no right triangles. The number of obtuse triangles with a particular diagonal as the longest side is equal to the number of vertices between the endpoints of this diagonal, going the shorter way.

Since there are 2n+1 2n+1 diagonals of each length, the total number of obtuse triangles is
(2n+1)i=1n1i=12(n1)n(2n+1). (2n+1)\sum_{i=1}^{n-1} i = \frac{1}{2}(n-1)n(2n+1).
The total number of triangles is
(2n+13)=13(2n1)n(2n+1). \binom{2n+1}{3} = \frac{1}{3}(2n-1)n(2n+1).
Since
12(n1)13(2n1)=12+n24n2>12 \frac{\frac{1}{2}(n-1)}{\frac{1}{3}(2n-1)} = \frac{1}{2} + \frac{n-2}{4n-2} > \frac{1}{2}
for n3 n \ge 3 , there are more obtuse triangles than acute ones. By the pigeonhole principle, there exist 3 vertices such that their initial and permuted positions both determine obtuse triangles.

Therefore, the property holds for all n n except n=5 n = 5 .

The answer is: \boxed{n \neq 5}.

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