A zonogon is a centrally symmetric convex polygon, consisting of 2 n sides, where n ≥ 2 is an integer. According to the geometer Coxeter, it can be dissected into 2 1 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 4 π = sin 2 π shows that a square can be dissected into a square (as a rhombus of interior angle 9 0 ∘ ).
- 2 cot 8 π = 4 sin 4 π + 2 sin 2 π shows that an octagon can be dissected into 4 rhombi of interior angle 4 5 ∘ and 2 squares.
- 4 cot 1 6 π = 8 sin 8 π + 8 sin 4 π + 8 sin 8 3 π + 4 sin 2 π shows that a hexadecagon (of 16 sides) can be dissected into 8 rhombi of interior angle 2 2 . 5 ∘ , 8 rhombi of interior angle 4 5 ∘ , 8 rhombi of interior angle 6 7 . 5 ∘ and 4 squares.
where these three identities are expressed in the following form
4 n cot n π = 4 n sin 2 π + j = 1 ∑ 4 n − 1 2 n sin n 2 j π
How many more n values in the powers of 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 4 n − 1 , k 4 n ) for n = 2 m , where m ≥ 1 is an integer.
4 n cot n π = k 4 n sin 2 π + j = 1 ∑ 4 n − 1 k j sin n 2 j π
For a harder challenge, try this problem .
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