Problem

Source: Israeli Oral Olympiad #5

Tags: combinatorics, chase, ratio



A mink is standing in the center of a field shaped like a regular polygon. The field is surrounded by a fence, and the mink can only exit through the vertices of the polygon. A dog is standing on one of the vertices, and can move along the fence. The mink wants to escape the field, while the dog tries to prevent it. Each of them moves with constant velocity. For what ratio of velocities could the mink escape if: a. The field is a regular triangle? b. The field is a square?