2004 AIME I Problem 8
Attempt Problem 8 of the 2004 AIME I below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2004 AIME I solutions, or check the answer key.
All problems are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).
8.
Define a regular -pointed star to be the union of line segments such that
• the points are coplanar and no three of them are collinear,
• each of the line segments intersects at least one of the other line segments at a point other than an endpoint,
• all of the angles at are congruent,
• all of the line segments are congruent, and
• the path turns counterclockwise at an angle of less than at each vertex.
There are no regular -pointed, -pointed, or -pointed stars. All regular -pointed stars are similar, but there are two non-similar regular -pointed stars. How many non-similar regular -pointed stars are there?
Answer: 199
Small hint:
A regular -pointed star joins every th of equally spaced points on a circle, where is relatively prime to
Big hint:
Exclude and which give a convex polygon, and note that and trace similar stars
Solution:
The congruent angles and congruent segments force the vertices of a regular star to be equally spaced on a circle, visited by taking a constant step: number equally spaced points and connect every th point. The path visits all points exactly when and the segments actually cross (making a star rather than a convex polygon) exactly when Steps and trace the same figure in opposite directions, while different values otherwise give non-similar stars, since a dilation matching the circles would have to match the turning angles.
For the number of with is Removing and leaves values, which pair up as so the number of non-similar regular -pointed stars is
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