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PROJECT EULER · #0382

Generating Polygons

Statement only · UnsolvedOriginal problem ↗

A polygon is a flat shape consisting of straight line segments that are joined to form a closed chain or circuit. A polygon consists of at least three sides and does not self-intersect.

A set S of positive numbers is said to generate a polygon P if:

  • no two sides of P are the same length,
  • the length of every side of P is in S, and
  • S contains no other value.

For example:
The set {3,4,5} generates a polygon with sides 3, 4, and 5 (a triangle).
The set {6,9,11,24} generates a polygon with sides 6, 9, 11, and 24 (a quadrilateral).
The sets {1,2,3} and {2,3,4,9} do not generate any polygon at all.

Consider the sequence s, defined as follows:

  • s1=1, s2=2, s3=3
  • sn=sn1+sn3 for n>3.

Let Un be the set {s1,s2,,sn}. For example, U10={1,2,3,4,6,9,13,19,28,41}.
Let f(n) be the number of subsets of Un which generate at least one polygon.
For example, f(5)=7, f(10)=501 and f(25)=18635853.

Find the last 9 digits of f(1018).

Write-up coming later

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