2022 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 24

Problem

The figure below depicts a regular $7$ -gon inscribed in a unit circle. $[asy] import geometry; unitsize(3cm); draw(circle((0,0),1),linewidth(1.5)); for (int i = 0; i < 7; ++i) { for (int j = 0; j < i; ++j) { draw(dir(i * 360/7) -- dir(j * 360/7),linewidth(1.5)); } } for(int i = 0; i < 7; ++i) { dot(dir(i * 360/7),5+black); } [/asy]$ What is the sum of the $4$ th powers of the lengths of all $21$ of its edges and diagonals?

$\textbf{(A) }49 \qquad \textbf{(B) }98 \qquad \textbf{(C) }147 \qquad \textbf{(D) }168 \qquad \textbf{(E) }196$

Solution 1 (Complex Numbers)

There are $7$ segments whose lengths are $2 \sin \frac{\pi}{7}$ , $7$ segments whose lengths are $2 \sin \frac{2 \pi}{7}$ , $7$ segments whose lengths are $2 \sin \frac{3\pi}{7}$ .

Therefore, the sum of the $4$ th powers of these lengths is $\begin{align*} 7 \cdot 2^4 \sin^4 \frac{\pi}{7} + 7 \cdot 2^4 \sin^4 \frac{2 \pi}{7} + 7 \cdot 2^4 \sin^4 \frac{3 \pi}{7} & = \frac{7 \cdot 2^4}{(2i)^4} \left( e^{i \frac{\pi}{7}} - e^{i \frac{\pi}{7}} \right)^4 + \frac{7 \cdot 2^4}{(2i)^4} \left( e^{i \frac{2 \pi}{7}} - e^{i \frac{2 \pi}{7}} \right)^4 + \frac{7 \cdot 2^4}{(2i)^4} \left( e^{i \frac{3 \pi}{7}} - e^{i \frac{4 \pi}{7}} \right)^4 \\ & = 7 \left( e^{i \frac{4 \pi}{7}} - 4 e^{i \frac{2 \pi}{7}} + 6 - 4 e^{- i \frac{2 \pi}{7}} + e^{- i \frac{4 \pi}{7}} \right) \\ & \quad + 7 \left( e^{i \frac{8 \pi}{7}} - 4 e^{i \frac{4 \pi}{7}} + 6 - 4 e^{- i \frac{4 \pi}{7}} + e^{- i \frac{8 \pi}{7}} \right) \\ & \quad + 7 \left( e^{i \frac{12 \pi}{7}} - 4 e^{i \frac{6 \pi}{7}} + 6 - 4 e^{- i \frac{6 \pi}{7}} + e^{- i \frac{12 \pi}{7}} \right) \\ & = 7 \left( e^{i \frac{4 \pi}{7}} + e^{i \frac{8 \pi}{7}} + e^{i \frac{12 \pi}{7}} + e^{-i \frac{4 \pi}{7}} + e^{-i \frac{8 \pi}{7}} + e^{-i \frac{12 \pi}{7}} \right) \\ & \quad - 7 \cdot 4 \left( e^{i \frac{2 \pi}{7}} + e^{i \frac{4 \pi}{7}} + e^{i \frac{6 \pi}{7}} + e^{-i \frac{2 \pi}{7}} + e^{-i \frac{4 \pi}{7}} + e^{-i \frac{6 \pi}{7}} \right) \\ & \quad + 7 \cdot 6 \cdot 3 \\ & = 7 \left( e^{i \frac{4 \pi}{7}} + e^{-i \frac{6 \pi}{7}} + e^{-i \frac{2 \pi}{7}} + e^{-i \frac{4 \pi}{7}} + e^{i \frac{6 \pi}{7}} + e^{i \frac{2 \pi}{7}} \right) \\ & \quad - 7 \cdot 4 \left( e^{i \frac{2 \pi}{7}} + e^{i \frac{4 \pi}{7}} + e^{i \frac{6 \pi}{7}} + e^{-i \frac{2 \pi}{7}} + e^{-i \frac{4 \pi}{7}} + e^{-i \frac{6 \pi}{7}} \right) \\ & \quad + 7 \cdot 6 \cdot 3 \\ & = -7 + 7 \cdot 4 + 7 \cdot 6 \cdot 3 \\ & = \boxed{\textbf{(C) }147}, \end{align*}$ where the fourth from the last equality follows from the property that $\begin{align*} e^{i \frac{2 \pi}{7}} + e^{i \frac{4 \pi}{7}} + e^{i \frac{6 \pi}{7}} + e^{-i \frac{2 \pi}{7}} + e^{-i \frac{4 \pi}{7}} + e^{-i \frac{6 \pi}{7}} & = e^{-i \frac{6 \pi}{7}} \sum_{j=0}^6 e^{i \frac{2 \pi j}{7}} - 1 \\ & = 0 - 1 \\ & = -1 . \end{align*}$ ~Steven Chen (Professor Chen Education Palace, www.professorchenedu.com)

Solution 2 (Trigonometry)

There are $7$ segments whose lengths are $2 \sin \frac{\pi}{7}$ , $7$ segments whose lengths are $2 \sin \frac{2 \pi}{7}$ , $7$ segments whose lengths are $2 \sin \frac{3\pi}{7}$ .

Therefore, the sum of the $4$ th powers of these lengths is $\begin{align*} & 7 \cdot 2^4 \sin^4 \frac{\pi}{7} + 7 \cdot 2^4 \sin^4 \frac{2 \pi}{7} + 7 \cdot 2^4 \sin^4 \frac{3 \pi}{7} \\ & = 7 \cdot 2^4 \left( \frac{1 - \cos \frac{2 \pi}{7}}{2} \right)^2 + 7 \cdot 2^4 \left( \frac{1 - \cos \frac{4 \pi}{7}}{2} \right)^2 + 7 \cdot 2^4 \left( \frac{1 - \cos \frac{6 \pi}{7}}{2} \right)^2 \\ & = 7 \cdot 2^2 \left( 1 - 2 \cos \frac{2 \pi}{7} + \cos^2 \frac{2 \pi}{7} \right) + 7 \cdot 2^2 \left( 1 - 2 \cos \frac{4 \pi}{7} + \cos^2 \frac{4 \pi}{7} \right) + 7 \cdot 2^2 \left( 1 - 2 \cos \frac{6 \pi}{7} + \cos^2 \frac{6 \pi}{7} \right) \\ & = 7 \cdot 2^2 \cdot 3 - 7 \cdot 2^3 \left( \cos \frac{2 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{4 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{6 \pi}{7} \right) + 7 \cdot 2^2 \left( \cos^2 \frac{2 \pi}{7} + \cos^2 \frac{4 \pi}{7} + \cos^2 \frac{6 \pi}{7} \right) \\ & = 7 \cdot 2^2 \cdot 3 - 7 \cdot 2^3 \left( \cos \frac{2 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{4 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{6 \pi}{7} \right) + 7 \cdot 2^2 \left( \frac{1 + \cos \frac{4 \pi}{7} }{2} + \frac{1 + \cos \frac{8 \pi}{7} }{2} + \frac{1 + \cos \frac{12 \pi}{7} }{2} \right) \\ & = 7 \cdot 2^2 \cdot 3 - 7 \cdot 2^3 \left( \cos \frac{2 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{4 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{6 \pi}{7} \right) + 7 \cdot 2 \cdot 3 + 7 \cdot 2 \left( \cos \frac{4 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{8 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{12 \pi}{7} \right) \\ & = 7 \cdot 2^2 \cdot 3 - 7 \cdot 2^3 \left( \cos \frac{2 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{4 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{6 \pi}{7} \right) + 7 \cdot 2 \cdot 3 + 7 \cdot 2 \left( \cos \frac{4 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{6 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{2 \pi}{7} \right) \\ & = 7 \cdot 2 \cdot 3 \left( 2 + 1 \right) - 7 \cdot 2 \left( 4 - 1 \right) \left( \cos \frac{4 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{6 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{2 \pi}{7} \right) \\ & = 7 \cdot 2 \cdot 3 \left( 2 + 1 \right) - 7 \cdot 2 \left( 4 - 1 \right) \cdot \left( - \frac{1}{2} \right) \\ & = \boxed{\textbf{(C) }147}, \end{align*}$ where the second from the last equality follows from the property that $\cos \frac{4 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{6 \pi}{7} + \cos \frac{2 \pi}{7} = - \frac{1}{2} .$

~Steven Chen (Professor Chen Education Palace, www.professorchenedu.com)

Solution 3 (Complex Numbers and Trigonometry)

As explained in Solutions 1 and 2, what we are trying to find is $7 \cdot 2^4 \sin^4 \frac{\pi}{7} + 7 \cdot 2^4 \sin^4 \frac{2 \pi}{7} + 7 \cdot 2^4 \sin^4 \frac{3 \pi}{7}$ . Using trig we get $\begin{align*} & \sin^4 \frac{\pi}{7} + \sin^4 \frac{2 \pi}{7} + \sin^4 \frac{3 \pi}{7} \\ = & \sin^2 \frac{\pi}{7} \left(1 - \cos^2 \frac{\pi}{7} \right) + \sin^2 \frac{2\pi}{7} \left(1 - \cos^2 \frac{2\pi}{7} \right) + \sin^2 \frac{3\pi}{7} \left(1 - \cos^2 \frac{3\pi}{7} \right) \\ = & \sin^2 \frac{\pi}{7} - \left(\frac{1}{2} \sin \frac{2\pi}{7}\right)^2 + \sin^2 \frac{2\pi}{7} - \left(\frac{1}{2} \sin \frac{4\pi}{7}\right)^2 + \sin^2 \frac{3\pi}{7} - \left(\frac{1}{2} \sin \frac{6\pi}{7}\right)^2\\ = & \sin^2 \frac{\pi}{7} - \frac{1}{4} \sin^2 \frac{2\pi}{7} + \sin^2 \frac{2\pi}{7} - \frac{1}{4} \sin^2 \frac{4\pi}{7} + \sin^2 \frac{3\pi}{7} - \frac{1}{4} \sin^2 \frac{6\pi}{7} \\ = & \frac{3}{4} \left(\sin^2 \frac{\pi}{7} + \sin^2 \frac{2\pi}{7} + \sin^2 \frac{3\pi}{7}\right) \\ = & \frac{3}{4} \cdot \frac{1}{2} \left(1 - \cos \frac{2\pi}{7} + 1 - \cos \frac{4\pi}{7} + 1 - \cos \frac{6\pi}{7} \right)\\ = & \frac{3}{4} \cdot \frac{1}{2} \left(3 - \left(-\frac{1}{2}\right)\right) \\ = & \frac{21}{16}. \end{align*}$ Like in the second solution, we also use the fact that $\cos \frac{2\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{4\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{6\pi}{7} = -\frac{1}{2}$ , which admittedly might need some explanation. Notice that $\begin{align*} \cos \frac{2\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{4\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{6\pi}{7} & = \frac{1}{2}\left(e^\frac{2i\pi}{7}+ e^{-\frac{2i\pi}{7}} \right) + \frac{1}{2}\left( e^\frac{4i\pi}{7}+ e^{-\frac{4i\pi}{7}} \right) + \frac{1}{2}\left( e^\frac{6i\pi}{7}+ e^{-\frac{6i\pi}{7}}\right) \\ & = \frac{1}{2}\left(e^\frac{2i\pi}{7}+ e^{-\frac{2i\pi}{7}}+ e^\frac{4i\pi}{7}+ e^{-\frac{4i\pi}{7}} +e^\frac{6i\pi}{7}+ e^{-\frac{6i\pi}{7}} + 1\right) - \frac{1}{2} \end{align*}$ In the brackets we have the sum of the roots of the polynomial $x^7 - 1 = 0$ . These sum to $0$ by Vieta’s formulas, and the desired identity follows. See Roots of unity if you have not seen this technique.

Going back to the question: $7 \cdot 2^4 \sin^4 \frac{\pi}{7} + 7 \cdot 2^4 \sin^4 \frac{2 \pi}{7} + 7 \cdot 2^4 \sin^4 \frac{3 \pi}{7} = 7 \cdot 2^4 \left(\sin^4 \frac{\pi}{7} + \sin^4 \frac{2 \pi}{7} + \sin^4 \frac{3 \pi}{7}\right) = 7 \cdot 2^4 \cdot \frac{21}{16} = \boxed{\textbf{(C) }147}.$ ~obscene_kangaroo

Solution 4 (Trigonometry)

This solution follows the same steps as the trigonometry solutions (Solutions 2 and 3), except it gives an alternate way to prove the statement below true without complex numbers:

$\cos \frac{2\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{4\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{6\pi}{7} = -\frac{1}{2}$

$\begin{align*} S &= \cos \frac{2\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{4\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{6\pi}{7}, \\ S^2 &= \cos^2 \frac{2\pi}{7} + \cos^2 \frac{4\pi}{7} + \cos^2 \frac{6\pi}{7} + 2\cos \frac{2\pi}{7}\cos \frac{4\pi}{7} + 2\cos \frac{2\pi}{7}\cos \frac{6\pi}{7} + 2\cos \frac{4\pi}{7}\cos \frac{6\pi}{7} \\ &= \left(\frac{1+ \cos \frac{4\pi}{7}}{2}\right) + \left(\frac{1+ \cos \frac{8\pi}{7}}{2}\right) + \left(\frac{1+ \cos \frac{12\pi}{7}}{2}\right) + 2\cos \frac{2\pi}{7}\cos \frac{4\pi}{7} + 2\cos \frac{2\pi}{7}\cos \frac{6\pi}{7} + 2\cos \frac{4\pi}{7}\cos \frac{6\pi}{7} \\ &= \frac{1}{2}(3 + S) + \left(\cos \frac{6\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{2\pi}{7}\right) + \left(\cos \frac{8\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{4\pi}{7}\right) + \left(\cos \frac{10\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{2\pi}{7}\right) \\ &= \frac{1}{2}(3 + S) + 2\cos \frac{2\pi}{7} + 2\cos \frac{4\pi}{7} + 2\cos \frac{6\pi}{7}\\ &= \frac{1}{2}(3 + S) + 2S. \\ \end{align*}$ We end up with $2S^2 - 5S - 3 = 0.$ Using the quadratic formula, we find the solutions for $S$ to be $-\frac{1}{2}$ and $3$ . Because $3$ is impossible, $S = -\frac{1}{2}$ . With this result, following similar to steps to Solutions 2 and 3 will get $\boxed{\textbf{(C) }147}$

~lordf

Solution 5 (Law of Cosines)

Let $x$ , $y$ , and $z$ be the lengths of the chords with arcs $\frac{2\pi}{7}$ , $\frac{4\pi}{7}$ and $\frac{6\pi}{7}$ respectively.

Then by the law of cosines we get: $\begin{align*} x^2 &= 2\left(1-\cos\frac{2\pi}{7}\right), \\ y^2 &= 2\left(1-\cos\frac{4\pi}{7}\right), \\ z^2 &= 2\left(1-\cos\frac{6\pi}{7}\right). \end{align*}$ The answer is then just $7(x^4+y^4+z^4)$ (since there's $7$ of each diagonal/side), obtained by summing the squares of the above equations and then multiplying by $7$ . $\begin{align*} & \quad7\cdot2^2\left( \left(1-\cos\frac{2\pi}{7}\right)^2 + \left(1-\cos\frac{4\pi}{7}\right)^2 + \left(1-\cos\frac{6\pi}{7}\right)^2 \right) \\ &= 7\cdot4\left( \left(1-2\cos\frac{2\pi}{7}+\cos^2\frac{2\pi}{7}\right) + \left(1-2\cos\frac{4\pi}{7}+\cos^2\frac{4\pi}{7}\right) + \left(1-2\cos\frac{6\pi}{7}+\cos^2\frac{6\pi}{7}\right) \right) \\ &= 7\cdot4\left(3-2\left(\cos\frac{2\pi}{7}+\cos\frac{4\pi}{7}+\cos\frac{6\pi}{7}\right) + \left(\cos^2\frac{2\pi}{7}+\cos^2\frac{4\pi}{7}+\cos^2\frac{6\pi}{7}\right) \right) \\ &= 7\cdot4\left(3-2\left(\cos\frac{2\pi}{7}+\cos\frac{4\pi}{7}+\cos\frac{6\pi}{7}\right) + \frac12 \left(1+\cos\frac{4\pi}{7}+1+\cos\frac{8\pi}{7}+1+\cos\frac{12\pi}{7}\right) \right) \\ &= 7\cdot4\left(\frac{9}{2}-2\left(\cos\frac{2\pi}{7}+\cos\frac{4\pi}{7}+\cos\frac{6\pi}{7}\right) + \frac12 \left(\cos\frac{4\pi}{7}+\cos\frac{6\pi}{7}+\cos\frac{2\pi}{7}\right) \right) \\ &= 7\cdot4\left(\frac{9}{2}-\frac{3}{2}\left(\cos\frac{2\pi}{7}+\cos\frac{4\pi}{7}+\cos\frac{6\pi}{7}\right) \right) \\ &= 7\cdot4\left(\frac{9}{2}-\frac{3}{2}\left(-\frac{1}{2}\right)\right) \\ &= \boxed{\textbf{(C) }147}. \end{align*}$ (Use the identity that $\cos\frac{2\pi}{7}+\cos\frac{4\pi}{7}+\cos\frac{6\pi}{7} = -\frac{1}{2}$ .)

- SAHANWIJETUNGA

Solution 6 (Ruler Measure)

Hope you had a ruler handy! This problem can be done with a ruler and basic estimation.

First, measuring the radius of the circle obtains $2.9$ cm (when done on the paper version). Thus, any other measurement we get for the sides/diagonals should be divided by $2.9$ .

Measuring the sides of the circle gets $2.5$ cm. The shorter diagonals are $4.5$ cm, and the longest diagonals measure $5.6$ cm. Thus, we'd like to estimate $7\left(\frac{2.5}{2.9}\right)^4 + 7\left(\frac{4.5}{2.9}\right)^4 + 7\left(\frac{5.6}{2.9}\right)^4.$

We know $\left(\frac{2.5}{2.9}\right)^4$ is slightly less than $1.$ Let's approximate it as 1 for now. Thus, $7\left(\frac{2.5}{2.9}\right)^4 \approx 7.$

Next, $\left(\frac{4.5}{2.9}\right)^4$ is slightly more than $\left(\frac{4.5}{3}\right)^4.$ We know $\left(\frac{4.5}{3}\right)^4 = 1.5^4 = \frac{81}{16},$ slightly more than $5,$ so we can approximate $\left(\frac{4.5}{2.9}\right)^4$ as $5.5.$ Thus, $7\left(\frac{4.5}{2.9}\right)^4 \approx 38.5.$

Finally, $\left(\frac{5.6}{2.9}\right)^4$ is slightly less than $\left(\frac{5.6}{2.8}\right)^4 = 2^4 = 16.$ We say it's around $15,$ so then $7\left(\frac{5.6}{2.9}\right)^4 \approx 105.$

Adding what we have, we get $105 + 38.5 + 1 = 144.5$ as our estimate. We see $\boxed{\textbf{(C) }147}$ is very close to our estimate, so we circle it and are happy that we successfully cheesed an AMC 12B problem 24.

~sirswagger21

Video Solution

https://youtu.be/nO5p_xfXykI

~ ThePuzzlr

https://youtu.be/yRbweIYtLU8

~Steven Chen (Professor Chen Education Palace, www.professorchenedu.com)

Video Solution by The Power of Logic(2 sols)

https://youtu.be/davXjK71QR4

Label the vertices A, B, C ... F Let AB = BC = ... = FG = GA = x Let AC = BD = ... = FA = GB = y Let AD = BE = ... = FB = GC = z Thus, we have to find 7(x^4 + y^4 + z^4) Using Ptolemy's theorem on various cyclic quadrilaterals, we find: xy + y^2 = z^2 yz + x^2 = z^2 xz + xy = yz x^2 + xz = y^2

2022 AMC 12B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 23	Followed by Problem 25
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25
All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions

Page

Toolbox

Search