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Geometry Difficulty 7.1 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Romania

Let AA, BB, CC be nodes of the lattice Z×Z\mathbb{Z} \times \mathbb{Z} such that inside the triangle ABCABC lies a unique node PP of the lattice. Denote E:=APBCE := AP \cap BC. Determine maxAPPE\max \frac{AP}{PE}, over all such configurations.

Solution

Let us build EE', the symmetrical of EE with respect to PP. If EE is latticeal, then EE' is latticeal, and this implies Eint(ABC)E' \notin \text{int}(ABC). We deduce that E=AE' = A, otherwise A(EP)A \in (E'P) and through a translation we get that there exists a latticeal point lying on PEPE, contradiction. So in this case APPE=1\frac{AP}{PE} = 1.
If EE is not a latticeal point, and on (BCBC) lies some other latticeal point QQ, since QEQ \neq E we can restrict the problem to either triangle ABQABQ or ACQACQ, with the same initial hypothesis. Thus we can assume that the only latticeal points on the sides of the triangle are on [AB][AB] and [AC][AC].
We shall prove that, over all configurations,
maxAPPE=5, \max \frac{AP}{PE} = 5,
value which can actually be reached by a proper configuration. Rather than looking for maxAPPE\max \frac{AP}{PE}, we will establish minPEAE=min[BPC][ABC]\min \frac{PE}{AE} = \min \frac{[BPC]}{[ABC]} (where by [XYZ][XYZ] we mean the area of XYZ\triangle XYZ).
Let us notice that for the triangle BPCBPC, the only latticeal points that are lying either on its sides, or in its interior, are just its vertices. We deduce from Pick's Theorem that [BPC]=12[BPC] = \frac{1}{2}. Let us denote by β\beta and γ\gamma the number of latticeal points on the sides (ABAB), respectively (ACAC). Availing ourselves again of Pick's Theorem, we find that [ABC]=β+γ+32[ABC] = \frac{\beta + \gamma + 3}{2}.
We get that PEAE=1β+γ+3\frac{PE}{AE} = \frac{1}{\beta + \gamma + 3}. We want to prove that PEAE16\frac{PE}{AE} \ge \frac{1}{6}. We contrariwise assume PEAE<16\frac{PE}{AE} < \frac{1}{6}, and thus β+γ4\beta + \gamma \ge 4.

Denote by B0,B1,,Bβ+1B_0, B_1, \dots, B_{\beta+1} the lattice points on [AB][AB], with B0=AB_0 = A, Bβ+1=BB_{\beta+1} = B, and by C0,C1,,Cγ+1C_0, C_1, \dots, C_{\gamma+1} the lattice points on [AC][AC], with C0=AC_0 = A, Cγ+1=CC_{\gamma+1} = C.
Let us consider the triangles of the type PCiCi+1PC_iC_{i+1} with i=0,,γi = 0, \dots, \gamma. They share the property that no lattice points lie inside or on the sides, other than the vertices, so [PCiCi+1]=12[PC_iC_{i+1}] = \frac{1}{2}. It follows that AC1=C1C2==CγCAC_1 = C_1C_2 = \dots = C_\gamma C. With a similar reasoning we have also AB1=B1B2==BβBAB_1 = B_1B_2 = \dots = B_\beta B. Thus ACjCjCj+1=ABjBjBj+1\frac{AC_j}{C_jC_{j+1}} = \frac{AB_j}{B_jB_{j+1}}, and so CiBiCi+1Bi+1C_iB_i \parallel C_{i+1}B_{i+1}, for all i{1,2,,min{β,γ}}i \in \{1, 2, \dots, \min\{\beta, \gamma\}\}.
We also deduce that on the segment (BiCi)(B_iC_i) lie i1i-1 lattice points. This is because we can construct i1i-1 parallelograms with vertices of the type BlClBiDB_lC_lB_iD with l<il < i, or of the type BlClCiDB_lC_lC_iD with D(BiCi)D \in (B_iC_i). From effectively writing the relationships between coordinates in a parallelogram, we get that DD is a lattice point. Thus if min{β,γ}2\min\{\beta, \gamma\} \ge 2, the segments (Bi,Ci)(B_i, C_i) would contain at least three lattice points (the ones from (B2C2)(B_2C_2) and (B3C3)(B_3C_3)), which is obviously false since PP is on at most one of the segments (BiCi)(B_iC_i). This means min{β,γ}1\min\{\beta, \gamma\} \le 1, with say βγ\beta \ge \gamma.

First case. γ=1\gamma = 1. From β+γ4\beta + \gamma \ge 4 follows that β3\beta \ge 3 and that C1C_1 is the midpoint of ACAC. Now since B1B_1 is the midpoint of AB2AB_2 we have that if we take MM the midpoint of CB2CB_2, we get the parallelogram B2B1C1MB_2B_1C_1M, and since all the points B2,B1,C1B_2, B_1, C_1 are lattice, we get MM lattice. Since MM is inside the triangle ABCABC, it must be PP. The quadrilateral BBβPCBB_\beta PC is convex since Bβ(B2B)B_\beta \in (B_2B). We note that the triangles BBβCBB_\beta C and BBβPBB_\beta P have the property that there are no lattice points inside or on their sides, except their vertices, so [BBβP]=[BBβC]=12[BB_\beta P] = [BB_\beta C] = \frac{1}{2}, hence BBβPCBB_\beta \parallel PC, which is false.

Second case. γ=0\gamma = 0. It follows that β4\beta \ge 4.

LEMMA. Let XYZTXYZT be a convex quadrilateral with lattice vertices, with the property that no lattice points lie in its interior, nor on its sides, except for its vertices. Then XYZTXYZT is a parallelogram.
Proof. From Pick's theorem we know that [XYZ]=[XYT]=12[XYZ] = [XYT] = \frac{1}{2}, and so XYZTXY \parallel ZT. Similarly XTYZXT \parallel YZ, which ends the proof. \square

Let us consider the quadrilateral AB1PCAB_1PC, with AB1PCAB_1 \cap PC \ne \emptyset. If it is convex, the previous LEMMA implies a contradiction. Thus [AB1]PC[AB_1] \cap PC \ne \emptyset. Also consider the quadrilateral BBβPCBB_\beta PC. By the same reasoning, we must have [BBβ]PC[BB_\beta] \cap PC \ne \emptyset. This is the desired contradiction and ends the solution of the problem.

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