Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2022

Geometry Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it Taiwan

There are two triangles ABCABC and ABCA'B'C' in the plane. It is known that each side length of triangle ABCABC is not less than aa, and each side length of triangle ABCA'B'C' is not less than aa'. Prove that it is always possible to choose one vertex from each of the two triangles such that the distance between them is not less than a2+a23\sqrt{\frac{a^2+a'^2}{3}}.

Solution

令點 G,GG, G' 分別為 ABC\triangle ABCABC\triangle A'B'C' 的重心。由重心公式知,對於平面上的任一點 PP,均有
PA2+PB2+PC2=3PG2+AB2+BC2+CA23. PA^2 + PB^2 + PC^2 = 3PG^2 + \frac{AB^2 + BC^2 + CA^2}{3}.
分別令 PPA,B,CA', B', C' 三點,所得的三條式子加總,再使用上述公式在三角形 ABC\triangle A'B'C'P=GP=G 上,得
AA2+AB2+AC2+BA2+BB2+BC2+CA2+CB2+CC2=AB2+BC2+CA2+3(AG2+BG2+CG2)=AB2+BC2+CA2+AB2+BC2+CA2+9GG23a2+3a2. \begin{aligned} A'A^2 + A'B^2 + A'C^2 + B'A^2 + B'B^2 + B'C^2 + C'A^2 + C'B^2 + C'C^2 \\ &= AB^2 + BC^2 + CA^2 + 3(A'G^2 + B'G^2 + C'G^2) \\ &= AB^2 + BC^2 + CA^2 + A'B'^2 + B'C'^2 + C'A'^2 + 9GG'^2 \\ &\geq 3a^2 + 3a'^2. \end{aligned}
因此,最前面的 9 項之中,存在一項不小於 19(3a2+3a2)=a2+a23\frac{1}{9}(3a^2 + 3a'^2) = \frac{a^2 + a'^2}{3},證畢。

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Let points G,GG, G' be the centroids of ABC\triangle ABC and ABC\triangle A'B'C' respectively. By the centroid formula, for any point PP in the plane, we have
PA2+PB2+PC2=3PG2+AB2+BC2+CA23. PA^2 + PB^2 + PC^2 = 3PG^2 + \frac{AB^2 + BC^2 + CA^2}{3}.
Letting PP be each of the three points A,B,CA', B', C' respectively, and summing the three resulting equations, then applying the above formula to triangle ABC\triangle A'B'C' with P=GP=G, we get
AA2+AB2+AC2+BA2+BB2+BC2+CA2+CB2+CC2=AB2+BC2+CA2+3(AG2+BG2+CG2)=AB2+BC2+CA2+AB2+BC2+CA2+9GG23a2+3a2. \begin{aligned} A'A^2 + A'B^2 + A'C^2 + B'A^2 + B'B^2 + B'C^2 + C'A^2 + C'B^2 + C'C^2 \\ &= AB^2 + BC^2 + CA^2 + 3(A'G^2 + B'G^2 + C'G^2) \\ &= AB^2 + BC^2 + CA^2 + A'B'^2 + B'C'^2 + C'A'^2 + 9GG'^2 \\ &\geq 3a^2 + 3a'^2. \end{aligned}
Therefore, among the 9 terms at the beginning, there exists one term that is not less than 19(3a2+3a2)=a2+a23\frac{1}{9}(3a^2 + 3a'^2) = \frac{a^2 + a'^2}{3}, which completes the proof.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from zh; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.