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Geometry Difficulty 8.7 Shortlist Prove it IMO

Let PP be a polygon that is convex and symmetric to some point OO. Prove that for some parallelogram RR satisfying PRP \subset R we have
RP2 \frac{|R|}{|P|} \leq \sqrt{2}
where R|R| and P|P| denote the area of the sets RR and PP, respectively.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

We will construct two parallelograms R1R_{1} and R3R_{3}, each of them containing PP, and prove that at least one of the inequalities R12P|R_{1}| \leq \sqrt{2}|P| and R32P|R_{3}| \leq \sqrt{2}|P| holds (see Figure 1).
First we will construct a parallelogram R1PR_{1} \supseteq P with the property that the midpoints of the sides of R1R_{1} are points of the boundary of PP.
Choose two points AA and BB of PP such that the triangle OABOAB has maximal area. Let aa be the line through AA parallel to OBOB and bb the line through BB parallel to OAOA. Let AA', BB', aa' and bb' be the points or lines, that are symmetric to AA, BB, aa and bb, respectively, with respect to OO. Now let R1R_{1} be the parallelogram defined by aa, bb, aa' and bb'.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Obviously, AA and BB are located on the boundary of the polygon PP, and AA, BB, AA' and BB' are midpoints of the sides of R1R_{1}. We note that PR1P \subseteq R_{1}. Otherwise, there would be a point ZPZ \in P but ZR1Z \notin R_{1}, i.e., one of the lines aa, bb, aa' or bb' were between OO and ZZ. If it is aa, we have OZB>OAB|OZB| > |OAB|, which is contradictory to the choice of AA and BB. If it is one of the lines bb, aa' or bb' almost identical arguments lead to a similar contradiction.
Let R2R_{2} be the parallelogram ABABABA'B'. Since AA and BB are points of PP, segment ABPAB \subset P and so R2R1R_{2} \subset R_{1}. Since AA, BB, AA' and BB' are midpoints of the sides of R1R_{1}, an easy argument yields
R1=2R2.(1) |R_{1}| = 2 \cdot |R_{2}| . \tag{1}
Let R3R_{3} be the smallest parallelogram enclosing PP defined by lines parallel to ABAB and BABA'. Obviously R2R3R_{2} \subset R_{3} and every side of R3R_{3} contains at least one point of the boundary of PP. Denote by CC the intersection point of aa and bb, by XX the intersection point of ABAB and OCOC, and by XX' the intersection point of XCXC and the boundary of R3R_{3}. In a similar way denote by DD the intersection point of bb and aa', by YY the intersection point of ABA'B and ODOD, and by YY' the intersection point of YDYD and the boundary of R3R_{3}.
Note that OC=2OXOC = 2 \cdot OX and OD=2OYOD = 2 \cdot OY, so there exist real numbers xx and yy with 1x,y21 \leq x, y \leq 2 and OX=xOXOX' = x \cdot OX and OY=yOYOY' = y \cdot OY. Corresponding sides of R3R_{3} and R2R_{2} are parallel which yields
R3=xyR2.(2) |R_{3}| = x y \cdot |R_{2}| . \tag{2}
The side of R3R_{3} containing XX' contains at least one point XX^* of PP; due to the convexity of PP we have AXBPAX^*B \subset P. Since this side of the parallelogram R3R_{3} is parallel to ABAB we have AXB=AXB|AX^*B| = |AX'B|, so OAXB|OAX'B| does not exceed the area of PP confined to the sector defined by the rays OBOB and OAOA. In a similar way we conclude that OBYA|OB'Y'A'| does not exceed the area of PP confined to the sector defined by the rays OBOB and OAOA'. Putting things together we have OAXB=xOAB|OAX'B| = x \cdot |OAB|, OBDA=yOBA|OBDA'| = y \cdot |OBA'|. Since OAB=OBA|OAB| = |OBA'|, we conclude that P2AXBYA=2(xOAB+yOBA)=4x+y2OAB=x+y2R2|P| \geq 2 \cdot |AX'BY'A'| = 2 \cdot (x \cdot |OAB| + y \cdot |OBA'|) = 4 \cdot \frac{x+y}{2} \cdot |OAB| = \frac{x+y}{2} \cdot |R_{2}|; this is in short
x+y2R2P.(3) \frac{x+y}{2} \cdot |R_{2}| \leq |P| . \tag{3}
Since all numbers concerned are positive, we can combine (1)-(3). Using the arithmetic-geometric-mean inequality we obtain
R1R3=2R2xyR22R22(x+y2)22P2. |R_{1}| \cdot |R_{3}| = 2 \cdot |R_{2}| \cdot x y \cdot |R_{2}| \leq 2 \cdot |R_{2}|^{2} \left(\frac{x+y}{2}\right)^{2} \leq 2 \cdot |P|^{2} .
This implies immediately the desired result R12P|R_{1}| \leq \sqrt{2} \cdot |P| or R32P|R_{3}| \leq \sqrt{2} \cdot |P|.

Solution 2

We construct the parallelograms R1R_{1}, R2R_{2} and R3R_{3} in the same way as in Solution 1 and will show that R1P2\frac{|R_{1}|}{|P|} \leq \sqrt{2} or R3P2\frac{|R_{3}|}{|P|} \leq \sqrt{2}.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Recall that affine one-to-one maps of the plane preserve the ratio of areas of subsets of the plane. On the other hand, every parallelogram can be transformed with an affine map onto a square. It follows that without loss of generality we may assume that R1R_{1} is a square (see Figure 2).
Then R2R_{2}, whose vertices are the midpoints of the sides of R1R_{1}, is a square too, and R3R_{3}, whose sides are parallel to the diagonals of R1R_{1}, is a rectangle.
Let a>0a > 0, b0b \geq 0 and c0c \geq 0 be the distances introduced in Figure 2. Then R1=2a2|R_{1}| = 2a^{2} and R3=(a+2b)(a+2c)|R_{3}| = (a + 2b)(a + 2c).
Points AA, AA', BB and BB' are in the convex polygon PP. Hence the square ABABABA'B' is a subset of PP. Moreover, each of the sides of the rectangle R3R_{3} contains a point of PP, otherwise R3R_{3} would not be minimal. It follows that
Pa2+2ab2+2ac2=a(a+b+c) |P| \geq a^{2} + 2 \cdot \frac{ab}{2} + 2 \cdot \frac{ac}{2} = a(a + b + c)
Now assume that both R1P>2\frac{|R_{1}|}{|P|} > \sqrt{2} and R3P>2\frac{|R_{3}|}{|P|} > \sqrt{2}, then
2a2=R1>2P2a(a+b+c) 2a^{2} = |R_{1}| > \sqrt{2} \cdot |P| \geq \sqrt{2} \cdot a(a + b + c)
and
(a+2b)(a+2c)=R3>2P2a(a+b+c). (a + 2b)(a + 2c) = |R_{3}| > \sqrt{2} \cdot |P| \geq \sqrt{2} \cdot a(a + b + c) .
All numbers concerned are positive, so after multiplying these inequalities we get
2a2(a+2b)(a+2c)>2a2(a+b+c)2 2a^{2}(a + 2b)(a + 2c) > 2a^{2}(a + b + c)^{2}
But the arithmetic-geometric-mean inequality implies the contradictory result
2a2(a+2b)(a+2c)2a2((a+2b)+(a+2c)2)2=2a2(a+b+c)2. 2a^{2}(a + 2b)(a + 2c) \leq 2a^{2}\left(\frac{(a + 2b) + (a + 2c)}{2}\right)^{2} = 2a^{2}(a + b + c)^{2} .
Hence R1P2\frac{|R_{1}|}{|P|} \leq \sqrt{2} or R3P2\frac{|R_{3}|}{|P|} \leq \sqrt{2}, as desired.

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