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Putnam 1989 B5

  • Session B

Label the vertices of a trapezoid TT (quadrilateral with two parallel sides) inscribed in the unit circle as A,B,C,DA, B, C, D so that ABAB is parallel to CDCD and A,B,C,DA, B, C, D are in counterclockwise order. Let s1,s2s_1, s_2, and dd denote the lengths of the line segments AB,CDAB, CD, and OEOE, where E is the point of intersection of the diagonals of TT, and OO is the center of the circle. Determine the least upper bound of s1−s2d\frac{s_1-s_2}{d} over all such TT for which d≠0d\ne 0, and describe all cases, if any, in which it is attained.

Curated text Kedlaya Putnam archive. Quoted with source.

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