Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Find the answer

How many equilateral hexagons of side length 13\sqrt{13} have one vertex at (0,0)(0,0) and the other five vertices at lattice points? (A lattice point is a point whose Cartesian coordinates are both integers. A hexagon may be concave but not self-intersecting.)

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

Solution

We perform casework on the point three vertices away from (0,0)(0,0). By inspection, that point can be (±8,±3),(±7,±2),(±4,±3),(±3,±2),(±2,±1)( \pm 8, \pm 3),( \pm 7, \pm 2),( \pm 4, \pm 3),( \pm 3, \pm 2),( \pm 2, \pm 1) or their reflections across the line y=xy=x. The cases are as follows: If the third vertex is at any of (±8,±3)( \pm 8, \pm 3) or (±3,±8)( \pm 3, \pm 8), then there are 7 possible hexagons. There are 8 points of this form, contributing 56 hexagons. If the third vertex is at any of (±7,±2)( \pm 7, \pm 2) or (±2,±7)( \pm 2, \pm 7), there are 6 possible hexagons, contributing 48 hexagons. If the third vertex is at any of (±4,±3)( \pm 4, \pm 3) or (±3,±4)( \pm 3, \pm 4), there are again 6 possible hexagons, contributing 48 more hexagons. If the third vertex is at any of (±3,±2)( \pm 3, \pm 2) or (±2,±3)( \pm 2, \pm 3), then there are again 6 possible hexagons, contributing 48 more hexagons. Finally, if the third vertex is at any of (±2,±1)( \pm 2, \pm 1), then there are 2 possible hexagons only, contributing 16 hexagons. Adding up, we get our answer of 216 .

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