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k a April Highlights and 2025 AoPS Online Class Information
jlacosta   0
Apr 2, 2025
Spring is in full swing and summer is right around the corner, what are your plans? At AoPS Online our schedule has new classes starting now through July, so be sure to keep your skills sharp and be prepared for the Fall school year! Check out the schedule of upcoming classes below.

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[*]April 22nd (Webinar), 4:00pm PT/7:00pm ET, Competitive Programming at AoPS (USACO).[/list]
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0 replies
jlacosta
Apr 2, 2025
0 replies
k i Adding contests to the Contest Collections
dcouchman   1
N Apr 5, 2023 by v_Enhance
Want to help AoPS remain a valuable Olympiad resource? Help us add contests to AoPS's Contest Collections.

Find instructions and a list of contests to add here: https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c40244h1064480_contests_to_add
1 reply
dcouchman
Sep 9, 2019
v_Enhance
Apr 5, 2023
k i Zero tolerance
ZetaX   49
N May 4, 2019 by NoDealsHere
Source: Use your common sense! (enough is enough)
Some users don't want to learn, some other simply ignore advises.
But please follow the following guideline:


To make it short: ALWAYS USE YOUR COMMON SENSE IF POSTING!
If you don't have common sense, don't post.


More specifically:

For new threads:


a) Good, meaningful title:
The title has to say what the problem is about in best way possible.
If that title occured already, it's definitely bad. And contest names aren't good either.
That's in fact a requirement for being able to search old problems.

Examples:
Bad titles:
- "Hard"/"Medium"/"Easy" (if you find it so cool how hard/easy it is, tell it in the post and use a title that tells us the problem)
- "Number Theory" (hey guy, guess why this forum's named that way¿ and is it the only such problem on earth¿)
- "Fibonacci" (there are millions of Fibonacci problems out there, all posted and named the same...)
- "Chinese TST 2003" (does this say anything about the problem¿)
Good titles:
- "On divisors of a³+2b³+4c³-6abc"
- "Number of solutions to x²+y²=6z²"
- "Fibonacci numbers are never squares"


b) Use search function:
Before posting a "new" problem spend at least two, better five, minutes to look if this problem was posted before. If it was, don't repost it. If you have anything important to say on topic, post it in one of the older threads.
If the thread is locked cause of this, use search function.

Update (by Amir Hossein). The best way to search for two keywords in AoPS is to input
[code]+"first keyword" +"second keyword"[/code]
so that any post containing both strings "first word" and "second form".


c) Good problem statement:
Some recent really bad post was:
[quote]$lim_{n\to 1}^{+\infty}\frac{1}{n}-lnn$[/quote]
It contains no question and no answer.
If you do this, too, you are on the best way to get your thread deleted. Write everything clearly, define where your variables come from (and define the "natural" numbers if used). Additionally read your post at least twice before submitting. After you sent it, read it again and use the Edit-Button if necessary to correct errors.


For answers to already existing threads:


d) Of any interest and with content:
Don't post things that are more trivial than completely obvious. For example, if the question is to solve $x^{3}+y^{3}=z^{3}$, do not answer with "$x=y=z=0$ is a solution" only. Either you post any kind of proof or at least something unexpected (like "$x=1337, y=481, z=42$ is the smallest solution). Someone that does not see that $x=y=z=0$ is a solution of the above without your post is completely wrong here, this is an IMO-level forum.
Similar, posting "I have solved this problem" but not posting anything else is not welcome; it even looks that you just want to show off what a genius you are.

e) Well written and checked answers:
Like c) for new threads, check your solutions at least twice for mistakes. And after sending, read it again and use the Edit-Button if necessary to correct errors.



To repeat it: ALWAYS USE YOUR COMMON SENSE IF POSTING!


Everything definitely out of range of common sense will be locked or deleted (exept for new users having less than about 42 posts, they are newbies and need/get some time to learn).

The above rules will be applied from next monday (5. march of 2007).
Feel free to discuss on this here.
49 replies
ZetaX
Feb 27, 2007
NoDealsHere
May 4, 2019
Parallelograms and concyclicity
Lukaluce   29
N 10 minutes ago by ItsBesi
Source: EGMO 2025 P4
Let $ABC$ be an acute triangle with incentre $I$ and $AB \neq AC$. Let lines $BI$ and $CI$ intersect the circumcircle of $ABC$ at $P \neq B$ and $Q \neq C$, respectively. Consider points $R$ and $S$ such that $AQRB$ and $ACSP$ are parallelograms (with $AQ \parallel RB, AB \parallel QR, AC \parallel SP$, and $AP \parallel CS$). Let $T$ be the point of intersection of lines $RB$ and $SC$. Prove that points $R, S, T$, and $I$ are concyclic.
29 replies
Lukaluce
Apr 14, 2025
ItsBesi
10 minutes ago
Inequality with a,b,c,d
GeoMorocco   5
N 12 minutes ago by GeoMorocco
Source: Moroccan Training 2025
Let $ a,b,c,d$ positive real numbers such that $ a+b+c+d=3+\frac{1}{abcd}$ . Prove that :
$$ a^2+b^2+c^2+d^2+5abcd \geq 9 $$
5 replies
GeoMorocco
Apr 9, 2025
GeoMorocco
12 minutes ago
number theory
Levieee   4
N 14 minutes ago by Safal
Idk where it went wrong, marks was deducted for this solution
$\textbf{Question}$
Show that for a fixed pair of distinct positive integers \( a \) and \( b \), there cannot exist infinitely many \( n \in \mathbb{Z} \) such that
\[
\sqrt{n + a} + \sqrt{n + b} \in \mathbb{Z}.
\]
$\textbf{Solution}$

Let
\[
x = \sqrt{n + a} + \sqrt{n + b} \in \mathbb{N}.
\]
Then,
\[
x^2 = (\sqrt{n + a} + \sqrt{n + b})^2 = (n + a) + (n + b) + 2\sqrt{(n + a)(n + b)}.
\]So:
\[
x^2 = 2n + a + b + 2\sqrt{(n + a)(n + b)}.
\]
Therefore,
\[
\sqrt{(n + a)(n + b)} \in \mathbb{N}.
\]
Let
\[
(n + a)(n + b) = k^2.
\]Assume \( n + a \neq n + b \). Then we have:
\[
n + a \mid k \quad \text{and} \quad k \mid n + b,
\]or it could also be that \( k \mid n + a \quad \text{and} \quad n + b \mid k \).

Without loss of generality, we take the first case:
\[
(n + a)k_1 = k \quad \text{and} \quad kk_2 = n + b.
\]
Thus,
\[
k_1 k_2 = \frac{n + b}{n + a}.
\]
Since \( k_1 k_2 \in \mathbb{N} \), we have:
\[
k_1 k_2 = 1 + \frac{b - a}{n + a}.
\]
For infinitely many \( n \), \( \frac{b - a}{n + a} \) must be an integer, which is not possible.

Therefore, there cannot be infinitely many such \( n \).
4 replies
Levieee
2 hours ago
Safal
14 minutes ago
Sequence and prime factors
USJL   7
N 40 minutes ago by MathLuis
Source: 2025 Taiwan TST Round 2 Independent Study 1-N
Let $a_0,a_1,\ldots$ be a sequence of positive integers with $a_0=1$, $a_1=2$ and
\[a_n = a_{n-1}^{a_{n-1}a_{n-2}}-1\]for all $n\geq 2$. Show that if $p$ is a prime less than $2^k$ for some positive integer $k$, then there exists $n\leq k+1$ such that $p\mid a_n$.
7 replies
USJL
Mar 26, 2025
MathLuis
40 minutes ago
powers sums and triangular numbers
gaussious   4
N an hour ago by kiyoras_2001
prove 1^k+2^k+3^k + \cdots + n^k \text{is divisible by } \frac{n(n+1)}{2} \text{when} k \text{is odd}
4 replies
gaussious
Yesterday at 1:00 PM
kiyoras_2001
an hour ago
complex bashing in angles??
megahertz13   2
N an hour ago by ali123456
Source: 2013 PUMAC FA2
Let $\gamma$ and $I$ be the incircle and incenter of triangle $ABC$. Let $D$, $E$, $F$ be the tangency points of $\gamma$ to $\overline{BC}$, $\overline{CA}$, $\overline{AB}$ and let $D'$ be the reflection of $D$ about $I$. Assume $EF$ intersects the tangents to $\gamma$ at $D$ and $D'$ at points $P$ and $Q$. Show that $\angle DAD' + \angle PIQ = 180^\circ$.
2 replies
megahertz13
Nov 5, 2024
ali123456
an hour ago
f(x+y+f(y)) = f(x) + f(ay)
the_universe6626   5
N 2 hours ago by deduck
Source: Janson MO 4 P5
For a given integer $a$, find all functions $f:\mathbb{Z}\rightarrow\mathbb{Z}$ such that
\[f(x+y+f(y))=f(x)+f(ay)\]holds for all $x,y\in\mathbb{Z}$.

(Proposed by navi_09220114)
5 replies
the_universe6626
Feb 21, 2025
deduck
2 hours ago
a, b subset
MithsApprentice   19
N 2 hours ago by Maximilian113
Source: USAMO 1996
Determine (with proof) whether there is a subset $X$ of the integers with the following property: for any integer $n$ there is exactly one solution of $a + 2b = n$ with $a,b \in X$.
19 replies
MithsApprentice
Oct 22, 2005
Maximilian113
2 hours ago
Hard Polynomial
ZeltaQN2008   1
N 2 hours ago by kiyoras_2001
Source: IDK
Let ?(?) be a polynomial with integer coefficients. Suppose there exist infinitely many integer pairs (?,?) such that
?(?) + ?(?) = 0. Prove that the graph of ?(?) is symmetric about a point (i.e., it has a center of symmetry).






1 reply
ZeltaQN2008
Apr 16, 2025
kiyoras_2001
2 hours ago
Arrangement of integers in a row with gcd
egxa   1
N 2 hours ago by Rohit-2006
Source: All Russian 2025 10.5 and 11.5
Let \( n \) be a natural number. The numbers \( 1, 2, \ldots, n \) are written in a row in some order. For each pair of adjacent numbers, their greatest common divisor (GCD) is calculated and written on a sheet. What is the maximum possible number of distinct values among the \( n - 1 \) GCDs obtained?
1 reply
egxa
4 hours ago
Rohit-2006
2 hours ago
Grasshoppers facing in four directions
Stuttgarden   2
N 3 hours ago by biomathematics
Source: Spain MO 2025 P5
Let $S$ be a finite set of cells in a square grid. On each cell of $S$ we place a grasshopper. Each grasshopper can face up, down, left or right. A grasshopper arrangement is Asturian if, when each grasshopper moves one cell forward in the direction in which it faces, each cell of $S$ still contains one grasshopper.
[list]
[*] Prove that, for every set $S$, the number of Asturian arrangements is a perfect square.
[*] Compute the number of Asturian arrangements if $S$ is the following set:
2 replies
Stuttgarden
Mar 31, 2025
biomathematics
3 hours ago
Number Theory
Fasih   0
3 hours ago
Find all integer solutions of the equation $x^{3} + 2 ^{\text{y}}   = p^{2}$ for all x, y $\ge$ 0, where $p$ is the prime number.

author @Fasih
0 replies
Fasih
3 hours ago
0 replies
Polynomial functional equation
Fishheadtailbody   1
N 3 hours ago by Sadigly
Source: MACMO
P(x) is a polynomial with real coefficients such that
P(x)^2 - 1 = 4 P(x^2 - 4x + 1).
Find P(x).

Click to reveal hidden text
1 reply
Fishheadtailbody
3 hours ago
Sadigly
3 hours ago
Bijection on the set of integers
talkon   19
N 3 hours ago by AN1729
Source: InfinityDots MO 2 Problem 2
Determine all bijections $f:\mathbb Z\to\mathbb Z$ satisfying
$$f^{f(m+n)}(mn) = f(m)f(n)$$for all integers $m,n$.

Note: $f^0(n)=n$, and for any positive integer $k$, $f^k(n)$ means $f$ applied $k$ times to $n$, and $f^{-k}(n)$ means $f^{-1}$ applied $k$ times to $n$.

Proposed by talkon
19 replies
talkon
Apr 9, 2018
AN1729
3 hours ago
Rotating segment by 45 degrees and interchanging endpoints.
Goutham   10
N Apr 14, 2025 by Ilikeminecraft
A needle (a segment) lies on a plane. One can rotate it $45^{\circ}$ round any of its endpoints. Is it possible that after several rotations the needle returns to initial position with the endpoints interchanged?
10 replies
Goutham
Feb 9, 2011
Ilikeminecraft
Apr 14, 2025
Rotating segment by 45 degrees and interchanging endpoints.
G H J
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Goutham
3130 posts
#1 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
A needle (a segment) lies on a plane. One can rotate it $45^{\circ}$ round any of its endpoints. Is it possible that after several rotations the needle returns to initial position with the endpoints interchanged?
Z K Y
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Akashnil
736 posts
#2 • 7 Y
Y by Aryan-23, Adventure10, Mango247, ohiorizzler1434, and 3 other users
Let the needle's endpoints initially lie at two adjacent lattice points in the cartesian coordinate plane.
It is clear that after some rotations, an endpoint's coordinates will be of the form:
$(a+b\cdot 2^{-\frac{1}{2}}, c+d\cdot 2^{-\frac{1}{2}})$, where $a,b,c,d\in \mathbb Z$
Since, $1, 2^{-\frac{1}{2}}$ are linearly independent over $\mathbb Z$, this is a unique representation.
the parity of $a+b$ is invariant for both endpoints. They start at different parity. So they can't interchange positions.
Z K Y
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v_Enhance
6872 posts
#3 • 5 Y
Y by HamstPan38825, Aryan-23, JAnatolGT_00, khina, john0512
Solution from Twitch Solves ISL: The answer is no.

Work in ${\mathbb Z}[\omega]$ where $\omega = \cos(45^{\circ})+i\sin(45^{\circ})$. Draw the needle as a directed segment from $0$ to $1$ in the plane.
We will only keep track of the left end point: if the endpoint is located at $z$. Rotations around the other endpoint correspond to \[ z \mapsto z + \omega^k - \omega^{k-1} \]for some choice of $\omega$.
The claim is that we never can reach $1$. To prove this we only need show the following claim, which proves the relevant invariant.

Claim: $0 \not\equiv 1 \pmod{\omega-1}$ in ${\mathbb Z}[\omega]$.
Proof. It suffices to show ${\mathbb Z}[\omega]/(\omega-1)$ is not trivial. Write ${\mathbb Z}[\omega] = {\mathbb Z}[T] / (T^4+1)$, then \[ {\mathbb Z}[\omega]/(\omega-1) 		\cong {\mathbb Z}[T] / \left( T^4+1, T-1 \right) 		\cong {\mathbb Z} / 2 = {\mathbb F}_2 \]as desired. $\blacksquare$
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IAmTheHazard
5001 posts
#5
Y by
Essentially the same as #2, but this is how I thought about it

Position the needle such that one endpoint is at $(0,0)$ and the other is at $(1,0)$, and WLOG rotate about the left endpoint first. Suppose a sequence of rotations works. Right before we switch endpoints to rotate around, draw the needle's current position on the plane. Also draw the line joining $(0,0)$ and $(1,0)$. Then the drawn segments clearly form a cycle/polygon. Furthermore, because the endpoints must be interchanged, there must be an odd number of vertices on this graph. On the other hand, every drawn segment has length $1$ and is either horizontal, vertical or has slope $\pm 1$. Because $1$ and $\sqrt{2}$ are linearly independent over $\mathbb{Z}$, it then follows that to end at the same position we started, we need an even number of horizontal and an even number of vertical edges. By rotating the argument $45^\circ$ the same is true for edges with slope $1$ and edges with slope $-1$, so there are an even number of edges and thus vertices: contradiction. $\blacksquare$
Z K Y
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popop614
271 posts
#6
Y by
The answer should be no. Let $\omega = e^{\frac{\pi i}{4}}$.

We start at $0$. A move consists of taking a complex number $z$ and adding $\omega^k$ where $k$ is some integer from $0$ to $7$. (Effectively what this does is that we rotate the needle by some amount, and then jump to the other endpoint.) We now show that the number of moves must be even, if we return to $0$. More formally, if

\[ \sum_{k = 0}^{7} a_k\omega^k = 0 \]for some integers $a_0$ through $a_7$, we must have that
\[ \sum_{k = 0}^{7} a_k \equiv 0 \pmod{2}.\]
In fact we can assume that $a_4$ through $a_7$ are zero, by subtracting pairs of $0 = \omega^k + \omega^{k + 4}$ while preserving the parity.

Now consider the real part of this thing. We have $a_0 + \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}a_1 - \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}a_3 = 0$. As such $a_0 = 0$. Likewise, $a_2 = 0$. This then forces $a_1 = a_3 = 0$, so the statement is true.
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HamstPan38825
8857 posts
#7
Y by
Does this work?

The answer is no. Let $\omega$ be a primitive eighth root of unity. Suppose otherwise, and consider the locus of all positions of the segment. Modulo the first and last positions, all such segments $\ell$ form an equilateral polygon with an odd number of sides.

As a result, there must exist some odd number of $\omega^k$'s that sum to $0$; equivalently, there exists a polynomial $f \in \mathbb Z[X]$ such that $f(1)$ is odd and $f(\omega) = 0$.

But then $X^4+1 \mid f$, and hence $2 \mid f(1)$, contradiction!
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blackbluecar
302 posts
#8
Y by
I have a very silly solution, which by the looks of things looks kinda different from the other solutions.

We place the needle on the complex plane with one end at $0$ and the other at $1$. We will let $z_0=0$ and $z_1=1$ and after $n$ moves, we let $z_n$ denote the new endpoint of the needle after a move. Note that if $\omega = e^{\frac{\pi i}{4}}$ then we can set up the following recurrence relation for $z_1,z_2, \ldots$ \[ z_{n} = \omega^{e_{n}}(z_{n-2}-z_{n-1})-z_{n-2} = (1- \omega^{e_{n}})z_{n-1}+\omega^{e_{n}}z_{n-2}\]for an arbitrary sequence of integers $e_1,e_2, \ldots$. This recurrence works because we translate $z_n$ to a new point $w$ on the unit circle, rotate it by $e_{n} \cdot \frac{\pi}{4}$ and undo the translation, which is exactly the operation we desire.

Claim: If $k$ is odd and $a_1,a_2, \ldots, a_k$ are integers, then \[ \omega^{a_1}+\omega^{a_2}+ \cdots + \omega^{a_k} \not = 0 \]
This is equivalent to showing that if $t_1\omega^1+t_2\omega^2+ \cdots +t_8\omega^8 = 0$ then $t_1+t_2+ \cdots +t_8$ is even. Indeed, note that \[ \Re(t_1\omega^1+t_2\omega^2 \cdots +t_8\omega^8) = t_1\cdot \Re(\omega^1)+t_2 \cdot \Re(\omega^2) \cdots +t_8 \cdot \Re(\omega^8)=0 \]\[ \implies (t_1+t_3-t_5-t_7) \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2} + t_2+t_4 = 0 \implies t_1+t_3-t_5-t_7=0 \]So, $t_1+t_3+t_5+t_7$ is even. We also note that \[\omega \cdot (t_1\omega^1+t_2\omega^2 \cdots +t_8\omega^8) = 0 \implies t_8\omega^1+t_1\omega^2 \cdots +t_7\omega^8\]So, $t_2+t_4+t_6+t_8$ is even by the same logic. Thus, $t_1+t_3+ \cdots +t_8$ is even as desired. $\square$

Thus, if we let $A_n$ denote the number of terms in the expansion of $z_n$, we can set up the following recursion \[ z_{n} = (1- \omega^{e_{n}})z_{n-1}+\omega^{e_{n}}z_{n-2} = z_{n-1} + \omega^{e_n+4} \cdot z_{n-1} + \omega^{e_n}z_{n-2}\]\[ \implies A_n = 2A_{n-1} + A_{n-2} \]Where $A_0=0$ and $A_1=1$. Note that this recursion implies that for all odd $k$, we have $A_k \equiv A_{k-2} \equiv \cdots \equiv A_1 \equiv 1 \pmod{2}$. Thus, $z_k$ has an odd number of terms in it's $\omega$ expansion. Thus, $z_k \not = 0 = z_0$ for all odd $k$. So, the two ends of the needle cannot swap.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by blackbluecar, Dec 29, 2023, 6:14 AM
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dolphinday
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#10
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Work in $\mathbb{Z}\left[\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}\right]^2$. WLOG the needle has length $1$. We will only focus on one endpoint, and prove that it cannot lie on the starting point of the other endpoint.
Then note that rotating point $\left(a_1 + b_1\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}, a_2 + b_2\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}\right)$ around another results in both $a_1 + b_1$ and $a_2 + b_2$ being invariant modulo $2$. However, since the two endpoints of the needle have distance $1$, the two endpoints have different parities, so they cannot swap.
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john0512
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The answer is no.

Main Claim: If $v_1,v_2,\dots v_n$ are vectors with the same magnitude that sum to $0$ and the argument of each vector is a multiple of $45$ degrees, then $n$ is even.

Suppose the magnitude is $2$. The idea here is that since $\sqrt{2}$ is irrational, both the integer and $\sqrt{2}$ parts of both $x$ and $y$ coordinates must be zero. Thus $(2,0)$ appears the same number of times as $(-2,0)$, and $(0,2)$ appears the same number of times as $(0,-2)$. Furthermore, $(\sqrt{2},\sqrt{2}),(\sqrt{2},-\sqrt{2})$ in total occur the same number of times as $(-\sqrt{2},\sqrt{2}),(-\sqrt{2},-\sqrt{2})$ in total due to the $x$ coordinate. Thus, the total number of vectors is even.

Contract any series of pivots around the same endpoint into a single rotation. Thus, what happens is that the needle repeatedly pivots some multiple of 45 degrees around one endpoint, and then switches the pivot to the other endpoint. The difference between consecutive endpoints is always the same magnitude and has an argument a multiple of $45$ degrees. However, in order for it to get back to its original position with the orientation swapped, the number of such vectors must be odd, contradiction.
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Mathandski
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Assign each endpoint $\left(a+b \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}, c+d \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2} \right)$. Induct gives $a+c+d$ parity unchanged.
This post has been edited 5 times. Last edited by Mathandski, Mar 6, 2025, 6:23 PM
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Ilikeminecraft
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#13
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No. Let $\omega = e^{\frac{\pi i}{4}}.$ Assume this exists. If we trace out the path as we move along the sequence, it forms a polygon(not necessarily degenerate) with odd number of vertices.
[asy]
        size(4cm);
        pair Exp(real r){
            return (cos(r), sin(r));
        }
        draw((1, 0) -- (0, 0) -- Exp(pi/4) -- 2 * Exp(pi/4) -- (2 * Exp(pi/4) + Exp(0)) -- (2 * Exp(pi/4) + 2 * Exp(0)));
        draw(2 * Exp(pi/4) + (2,0) -- (1, 0), Dotted);
        dot((0, 0), black);
        dot((1,0), red);
        dot(Exp(pi/4), red);
        dot(2 * Exp(pi/4), black);
        dot(2 * Exp(pi/4) + (1,0), red);
        dot(2 * Exp(pi/4) + (2,0), black);
[/asy]
Thus, it suffices to show that there doesn't exist nonnegative integers $a_k < 8$ such that \[\sum_{k = 0}^{2\ell} \omega^{a_k} = 0.\]Substitute $x = \omega,$ and we get that the polynomial \[P(x) = \sum_{k = 0}^{2\ell} x^{a_k}\]must have a root at $x=\omega$. Furthermore, $P(x)\in\mathbb Z[x].$ Since $P(\omega) = 0,$ it follows the minimal polynomial of $\omega$(equivalently $\Phi_4(x) = x^4 + 1$) must divide $P.$ Thus, $x^4 + 1 \mid P.$ However, this implies $2\mid P(1).$ However, this is false since $P$ is the sum of an odd number of $x^k.$
This post has been edited 3 times. Last edited by Ilikeminecraft, Apr 14, 2025, 8:40 PM
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