Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2022

Geometry Difficulty 6.6 National Olympiad Prove it Bulgaria

Consider a ABC\triangle ABC with integer sides, a median CMCM (MABM \in AB), and a circumscribed center OO. If the circumcircle of AMOAMO passes through the midpoint of CMCM, find the smallest possible value for the perimeter of ABCABC.

Solution

Let NN and PP be the midpoints of ACAC and CMCM, respectively. Then the pentagon ANPOMANPOM is cyclic with AMPNAM \parallel PN, meaning that CAM=180ANP=90PNO=90PMO=AMC\triangle CAM = 180^\circ - \angle ANP = 90^\circ - \angle PNO = 90^\circ - \angle PMO = \angle AMC,

which is equivalent to AC=CMAC = CM. Let QQ be the midpoint of AMAM (clearly CQABCQ \perp AB). Denote AC=bAC = b, BC=aBC = a, AB=cAB = c. We have CM2MQ2=CQ2=BC2BQ2CM^2 - MQ^2 = CQ^2 = BC^2 - BQ^2, i.e., b2c216=a29c216b^2 - \frac{c^2}{16} = a^2 - \frac{9c^2}{16}, thus 2(a2b2)=c22(a^2 - b^2) = c^2. Obviously c=2kc = 2k and (ab)(a+b)=2k2(a-b)(a+b) = 2k^2, with the same parity of the factors in LHS. Therefore, kk should be even. If k=2k = 2 then ab=2a-b=2, a+b=4a+b=4, i.e., a=3a=3, b=1b=1, which together with c=4c=4 fails the triangle inequality. When k=4k=4, we have either ab=2a-b=2, a+b=16a+b=16 (i.e., a=9a=9, b=7b=7, c=8c=8, a valid configuration with a perimeter 24) or ab=4a-b=4, a+b=8a+b=8 (i.e., a=6a=6, b=2b=2, again a non-valid configuration). For k6k \ge 6, we derive c12c \ge 12 and a+b+c>2c24a+b+c > 2c \ge 24 from the triangle inequality. Thus, the answer is 24, and AB=8AB = 8, AC=7AC = 7, BC=9BC = 9.

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