1997 USAMO Problems/Problem 4
Problem
To clip a convex 
-gon means to choose a pair of consecutive sides 
and to replace them by three segments 
and 
where 
is the midpoint of 
and 
is the midpoint of 
. In other words, one cuts off the triangle 
to obtain a convex 
-gon. A regular hexagon 
of area 
is clipped to obtain a heptagon 
. Then is clipped (in one of the seven possible ways) to obtain an octagon 
, and so on. Prove that no matter how the clippings are done, the area of 
is greater than 
, for all 
.
