Teasing Quadrilateral

Geometry Level 5

The length of each side of a convex quadrilateral A B C D ABCD is a positive integer. If the sum of the lengths of any three sides is divisible by the length of the remaining side, then which of the following statements is true?

At least 3 sides are equal It is a parallelogram Such quadrilateral is not possible It is a rhombus All sides can be distinct At least 2 sides are equal

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1 solution

Patrick Corn
Feb 2, 2018

First, note that side lengths of 2 , 3 , 3 , 4 2,3,3,4 give rise to a convex quadrilateral (a trapezoid) that is not a rhombus or a parallelogram, and doesn't have 3 equal sides. So the only possible answers are "at least 2 sides are equal" or "all sides can be distinct." We will show that in fact, at least 2 sides must be equal.

If the sides are x , y , z , w , x,y,z,w, then the condition is that each of the sides divides the perimeter x + y + z + w . x+y+z+w. Suppose there is such a quadrilateral with all distinct sides. Suppose without loss of generality that x < y < z < w . x<y<z<w. Now if x + y + z + w = 2 w , x+y+z+w=2w, then the quadrilateral is degenerate. And x + y + z + w < w + w + w + w = 4 w . x+y+z+w < w+w+w+w = 4w. So the sum must equal precisely 3 w . 3w.

Let n = 3 w n=3w be the perimeter. Then x = n / a , y = n / b , z = n / c , w = n / 3 , x = n/a, y = n/b, z = n/c, w = n/3, for distinct positive integers a , b , c > 3. a,b,c > 3. So we get n = n 3 + n a + n b + n c , n = \frac{n}3 + \frac{n}{a} + \frac{n}{b} + \frac{n}{c}, and the largest that the right side can possibly be is n 3 + n 4 + n 5 + n 6 = 19 n 20 , \frac{n}3 + \frac{n}4 + \frac{n}5 + \frac{n}6 = \frac{19n}{20}, so this is impossible.

Hence at least 2 sides are equal.

Beautiful solution Sir !

Vilakshan Gupta - 3 years, 4 months ago

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