Pairs problem: Given $t \geq 2$ pairs of vertices of a regular $n$-gon ($n \geq 3$ integer) with $2t \leq n$, is it possible to rotate the individual pairs to mutually disjoint copies? What is the largest number $t = t(n)$ of pairs that always rotate apart, regardless of the data? For instance, if $n \geq 8$ is a multiple of $4$ and $t = \frac{n}{4} + 1$ then $t$ pairs can be rotated apart. For $5 \leq n \leq 38$ computations show that the following proposal works:
$t =\frac{n}{3}$ if $n$ is divisible by $3$ and $t =\lceil \frac{n+2}{3} \rceil$ otherwise.
For $n \leq 11$, or if $n$ is a multiple of $3$, or if $n = 14, 20$, this boundary is the desired $t(n)$. The value is not the best possible for other $n \leq 32$. A peculiar result is that $n$ is of type $8x$ or $8x + 2$ if and only if the $n$-gon can be partitioned into $\frac{n}{2}$ pairs with all different diameters $1,2,\ldots,\frac{n}{2}$. Difficulties in determining the exact value of $t(n)$ are seemingly due to the appearance of pairs having the same diameter. ...
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