Sigma Percentile
JEE Main 2013
LEVELBoard

Animated Solution for Mathematics - Permutations and Combinations: Let be the number of all possible triangles formed by joining vertices of an -sided regular polygon. If , then the value of is :

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Visualized Solution

Understanding

  • Let be the number of vertices of a regular polygon.
  • To form a triangle, we must select vertices from the available vertices.

Formula for

  • Since the order of selection does not matter, the number of triangles is given by combinations.

Setting up the Equation

  • For a polygon with sides, the number of triangles is .
  • The given condition is: .

Substituting Combinations

  • Substituting the combination formulas into our equation:

Pascal's Identity

  • Recall Pascal's Identity:
  • Rearranging this identity, we get:

Simplifying the Equation

  • Applying this to our equation with :
  • Therefore, our equation simplifies to:

Expanding

  • Expanding the combination :

Solving for

  • Multiplying both sides by :
  • We look for two consecutive integers whose product is :

Final Answer

  • By comparison, we find .
  • The polygon has sides, so it is a pentagon.

The Sigma Insight: Combinations and Selection

Solution Diagram

Analyzing the Setup

To form a triangle within a regular polygon with vertices, we must select any vertices from the available. Since the order of selection does not change the resulting triangle, we utilize the combination formula.
The total number of triangles is given by:
This expression serves as the bedrock of our logical framework.

The Power of Pascal's Identity

We now consider a polygon with vertices. The number of triangles in this polygon is . We are given the condition:
Rather than expanding these terms into complex factorials, we apply Pascal's Identity, which states:
By rearranging this identity, we obtain the relationship . Setting , our equation simplifies elegantly to:

The Final Calculation

We are left with the simplified combination equation . Expanding this using the definition of combinations, we get:
Multiplying both sides by , we arrive at the quadratic form:
We seek two consecutive integers whose product is . Since , we conclude that .
The polygon in question is a pentagon. This result demonstrates that in JEE mathematics, identifying the correct combinatorial property often bypasses the need for tedious brute-force calculation.

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