Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 6 / 353 of 400 #1353 of 2000

Problem 1353

National olympiad, first round
Geometry Difficulty 6.7 Prove it

Let P1P2P2021P_{1} P_{2} \ldots P_{2021} be a convex polygon with 2021 vertices such that, for each vertex PiP_{i}, the 2018 diagonals emanating from PiP_{i} divide the angle P^i\widehat{P}_{i} into 2019 equal angles.
Prove that P1P2P2021P_{1} P_{2} \ldots P_{2021} is a regular polygon, that is, a polygon where all angles have the same measure and all sides have the same length.

This one wants a proof. Work it on paper, read the official solution, then mark yourself honestly — the ladder only means something if the record is true.

Official solution

In the following, we set n=2019 n=2019 and, for any vertex Pi P_{i} , we denote ai a_{i} as the angle P^i/n \widehat{P}_{i} / n . Let Pk P_{k} , Pk+1 P_{k+1} , Pk+2 P_{k+2} , Pk+3 P_{k+3} , and Pk+4 P_{k+4} be four consecutive vertices, with the indices of the vertices considered modulo n+2 n+2 .
The sum of the angles in a triangle is 180 180^{\circ} . By considering the triangles PiPi+1Pi+2 P_{i} P_{i+1} P_{i+2} , PiPi+1Pi+3 P_{i} P_{i+1} P_{i+3} , and PiPi+1Pi+4 P_{i} P_{i+1} P_{i+4} , we observe that

ai+nai+1+ai+2=1802ai+(n1)ai+1+ai+3=1803ai+(n2)ai+1+ai+4=180 \begin{aligned} a_{i} + n a_{i+1} + a_{i+2} & = 180^{\circ} \\ 2 a_{i} + (n-1) a_{i+1} + a_{i+3} & = 180^{\circ} \\ 3 a_{i} + (n-2) a_{i+1} + a_{i+4} & = 180^{\circ} \end{aligned}

We will then subtract these equations two by two:
(1)(2)\triangleright (1)-(2) indicates that ai+1+ai+2=ai+ai+3 a_{i+1} + a_{i+2} = a_{i} + a_{i+3} , which means ai+1ai=ai+3ai+2 a_{i+1} - a_{i} = a_{i+3} - a_{i+2} ;
(2)(3)\triangleright (2)-(3) indicates that ai+1+ai+3=ai+ai+4 a_{i+1} + a_{i+3} = a_{i} + a_{i+4} , which means ai+1ai=ai+4ai+3 a_{i+1} - a_{i} = a_{i+4} - a_{i+3} .
We observe that ai+4ai+3=ai+3ai+2 a_{i+4} - a_{i+3} = a_{i+3} - a_{i+2} . The difference between two consecutive angles aj a_{j} and aj+1 a_{j+1} is therefore equal to a constant c \mathbf{c} .
This means that ai+k=ai+kc a_{i+k} = a_{i} + k \mathbf{c} for all integers i i and k k . In particular, a1=an+3=a1+(n+2)c a_{1} = a_{n+3} = a_{1} + (n+2) \mathbf{c} , so c=0 \mathbf{c} = 0^{\circ} . Thus, our polygon has all its vertices equal.
The triangle PiPi+1Pi+2 P_{i} P_{i+1} P_{i+2} is therefore isosceles at Pi+1 P_{i+1} , so that PiPi+1=Pi+1Pi+2 P_{i} P_{i+1} = P_{i+1} P_{i+2} . Since two consecutive sides are of the same length, our polygon has all its sides of the same length, and it is indeed a regular polygon.
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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic, difficulty and ordering added by this site.