Coxeter Number Power

Geometry Level 4

A zonogon is a centrally symmetric convex polygon, consisting of 2 n 2n sides, where n 2 n \geq 2 is an integer. According to the geometer Coxeter, it can be dissected into 1 2 n ( n 1 ) \dfrac{1}{2}n(n - 1) parallelograms. Using this fact, we can establish few identities for expressing areas of a unit regular zonogon in two distinct ways:

  • cot π 4 = sin π 2 \cot\dfrac{\pi}{4} = \sin\dfrac{\pi}{2} shows that a square can be dissected into a square (as a rhombus of interior angle 9 0 90^{\circ} ).
  • 2 cot π 8 = 4 sin π 4 + 2 sin π 2 2\cot\dfrac{\pi}{8} = 4\sin\dfrac{\pi}{4} + 2\sin\dfrac{\pi}{2} shows that an octagon can be dissected into 4 4 rhombi of interior angle 4 5 45^{\circ} and 2 2 squares.
  • 4 cot π 16 = 8 sin π 8 + 8 sin π 4 + 8 sin 3 π 8 + 4 sin π 2 4\cot\dfrac{\pi}{16} = 8\sin\dfrac{\pi}{8} + 8\sin\dfrac{\pi}{4} + 8\sin\dfrac{3\pi}{8} + 4\sin\dfrac{\pi}{2} shows that a hexadecagon (of 16 sides) can be dissected into 8 8 rhombi of interior angle 22. 5 22.5^{\circ} , 8 8 rhombi of interior angle 4 5 45^{\circ} , 8 8 rhombi of interior angle 67. 5 67.5^{\circ} and 4 4 squares.

where these three identities are expressed in the following form

n 4 cot π n = n 4 sin π 2 + j = 1 n 4 1 n 2 sin 2 j π n \dfrac{n}{4}\cot\dfrac{\pi}{n} = \dfrac{n}{4}\sin\dfrac{\pi}{2} + \sum\limits_{j=1}^{\frac{n}{4} - 1} \dfrac{n}{2}\sin\dfrac{2j\pi}{n}

How many more n n values in the powers of 2 2 (that hold for the above identity) are there?


Bonus: Prove or disprove that the following equation has one and only nonnegative integral ( k 1 , k 2 , , k n 4 1 , k n 4 ) (k_1, k_2, \dots, k_{\frac{n}{4} - 1}, k_{\frac{n}{4}}) for n = 2 m n=2^m , where m 1 m \geq 1 is an integer.

n 4 cot π n = k n 4 sin π 2 + j = 1 n 4 1 k j sin 2 j π n \dfrac{n}{4}\cot\dfrac{\pi}{n} = k_{\frac{n}{4}}\sin\dfrac{\pi}{2} + \sum\limits_{j=1}^{\frac{n}{4} - 1} k_j\sin\dfrac{2j\pi}{n}


For a harder challenge, try this problem .

Finitely more Infinitely more No more

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

0 solutions

No explanations have been posted yet. Check back later!

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...