Impossible Dot-Product Sums

8/10algebraTelescopingCaseworkvectors

Problem

On the side BCBC of an equilateral triangle ABCABC of side length 11, take nn equally spaced interior points (n2n\geqslant 2), labeled P1,P2,,Pn1P_1,P_2,\dots,P_{n-1} in the direction of BC\overrightarrow{BC}. Let

Tn=ABAP1+AP1AP2++APn1AC.T_n=\overrightarrow{AB}\cdot\overrightarrow{AP_1}+\overrightarrow{AP_1}\cdot\overrightarrow{AP_2}+\cdots+\overrightarrow{AP_{n-1}}\cdot\overrightarrow{AC}.

Among the four numbers 294\dfrac{29}4, 9110\dfrac{91}{10}, 19718\dfrac{197}{18}, 23233\dfrac{232}{33}, determine how many cannot be a value of TnT_n.

Answer

Solution

Difficulty8/10
Topicsalgebra, Telescoping, Casework, vectors

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