Two sides of a regular -gon are extended to meet at a angle. What is the smallest possible value for ?
Solution
We note that if we inscribe the -gon in a circle, then according to the inscribed angle theorem, the angle between two sides is times some , where and are integer multiples of the arc measure of one side of the -gon. Thus, the angle is equal to times an integer multiple of , so for some integer . Simplifying gives , and since all are clearly attainable, the smallest possible value of is 45.
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.