Tie your shoelace

Geometry Level 4

It is very obvious that on the x y xy -plane I can select 4 vertices with all integer coordinates that form a regular 4-gon (a square).

Are there any other integers n n (besides 4) such that a regular n n -gon with all integer vertex coordinates can be drawn out of the n n points selected?

Yes, infinitely many Yes, finitely many No

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1 solution

Arthur Conmy
Feb 23, 2018

By breaking down an n n sided regular polygon with side length s s into n n isosceles triangles, (in cases n 3 n \neq 3 each isosceles triangle with a vertex at the polygon's circumcenter), the area of such a polygon is

n s 2 4 tan π n \large \frac{ns^2}{4 \tan \frac{\pi}{n}} .

But by Pick's theorem , this area is an integer or half an integer. This means that (at very least) tan π n \tan \frac{\pi}{n} is rational.

However, by Niven's theorem , tan θ \tan \theta is only rational at θ = π 4 \theta = \frac{\pi}{4} and θ = 0 \theta = 0 (within the range we're working on here, 0 < θ π 3 0 < \theta \leq \frac{\pi}{3} ).

So the only possible values of n n such that a regular polygon could be created with n n lattice points is 4 4 , and we're given this works in the problem statement. Hence the answer is 'No'.

Extra: Well that's a (somewhat) high level solution (that generalises the n = 3 n=3 case in the Pick's Theorem wiki article). Anyone want to find a nicer solution? :)

This is exactly my solution! UPVOTEDDD

Pi Han Goh - 3 years, 3 months ago

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