2022 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 24
Contents
Problem
The figure below depicts a regular 7-gon inscribed in a unit circle. What is the sum of the 4th powers of the lengths of all 21 of its edges and diagonals?
Solution (Complex numbers approach)
There are 7 segments whose lengths are , 7 segments whose lengths are , 7 segments whose lengths are .
Therefore, the sum of the 4th powers of these lengths is where the fourth from the last equality follows from the property that
~Steven Chen (Professor Chen Education Palace, www.professorchenedu.com)
Solution 2 (Trig approach)
There are 7 segments whose lengths are , 7 segments whose lengths are , 7 segments whose lengths are .
Therefore, the sum of the 4th powers of these lengths is where the second from the last equality follows from the property that
~Steven Chen (Professor Chen Education Palace, www.professorchenedu.com)
Solution 3
As explained in the first two solutions, what we are trying to find is . Using trig we get Like in the second solution, we also use the fact that , which admittedly might need some explanation. Notice that In the brackets we have the sum of the roots of the polynomial . These sum to 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: . ~obscene_kangaroo
Video Solution
~ ThePuzzlr
~Steven Chen (Professor Chen Education Palace, www.professorchenedu.com)
See Also
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 |
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