Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2015

Geometry Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it Slovenia

The bisector of the angle at AA, the altitude from AA, and the median from AA divide the angle at AA into 4 equal parts. Determine the sizes of angles of the triangle ABCABC.

Solution

Let DD be the midpoint of the side BCBC, EE be the foot of the altitude from vertex AA, and SS be the intersection of the angle bisector at vertex AA with the side BCBC. Since the angle bisector divides the angle into two equal parts it must lie between the altitude and the median. Thus the point SS lies between the points EE and DD. We have two possibilities. Either DD lies between BB and SS, and EE lies between SS and CC, or EE lies between BB and SS, and DD lies between SS and CC. Due to symmetry we may consider only the first case.

Denote the angle BAC\angle BAC by 4α4\alpha where 0<α<π40 < \alpha < \frac{\pi}{4}. Then
BE=AEtan3α,DE=AEtan2αinCE=AEtanα. |BE| = |AE| \tan 3\alpha, \quad |DE| = |AE| \tan 2\alpha \quad \text{in} \quad |CE| = |AE| \tan \alpha.
From this we deduce
BD=BEDE=AE(tan3αtan2α) |BD| = |BE| - |DE| = |AE|(\tan 3\alpha - \tan 2\alpha)
and
CD=CE+DE=AE(tanα+tan2α). |CD| = |CE| + |DE| = |AE|(\tan \alpha + \tan 2\alpha).
Since DD is a midpoint of the side BCBC it follows tan3αtan2α=tanα+tan2α\tan 3\alpha - \tan 2\alpha = \tan \alpha + \tan 2\alpha and thus
tan3αtanα2tan2α=0. \tan 3\alpha - \tan \alpha - 2 \tan 2\alpha = 0.
We can rearrange the left side
tan3αtanα2tan2α=sin3αcos3αsinαcosα2sin2αcos2α==sin3αcosαsinαcos3αcosαcos3α2sin2αcos2α=sin2αcosαcos3α2sin2αcos2α==sin2α(cos2α2cosαcos3α)cosαcos2αcos3α=sin2αcos4αcosαcos2αcos3α. \begin{align*} \tan 3\alpha - \tan \alpha - 2 \tan 2\alpha &= \frac{\sin 3\alpha}{\cos 3\alpha} - \frac{\sin \alpha}{\cos \alpha} - 2 \frac{\sin 2\alpha}{\cos 2\alpha} = \\ &= \frac{\sin 3\alpha \cos \alpha - \sin \alpha \cos 3\alpha}{\cos \alpha \cos 3\alpha} - 2 \frac{\sin 2\alpha}{\cos 2\alpha} = \frac{\sin 2\alpha}{\cos \alpha \cos 3\alpha} - 2 \frac{\sin 2\alpha}{\cos 2\alpha} = \\ &= \frac{\sin 2\alpha(\cos 2\alpha - 2 \cos \alpha \cos 3\alpha)}{\cos \alpha \cos 2\alpha \cos 3\alpha} = - \frac{\sin 2\alpha \cos 4\alpha}{\cos \alpha \cos 2\alpha \cos 3\alpha}. \end{align*}
To get the fourth equality we used the addition formula for sine
sin2α=sin(3αα)=sin3αcosαsinαcos3α \sin 2\alpha = \sin(3\alpha - \alpha) = \sin 3\alpha \cos \alpha - \sin \alpha \cos 3\alpha
and to get the last equality we used the product formula for cosine
2cosαcos3α=cos(3α+α)+cos(3αα)=cos4α+cos2α. 2 \cos \alpha \cos 3\alpha = \cos(3\alpha + \alpha) + \cos(3\alpha - \alpha) = \cos 4\alpha + \cos 2\alpha.
It follows that sin2α=0\sin 2\alpha = 0 or cos4α=0\cos 4\alpha = 0, thus 2α=kπ2\alpha = k\pi or 4α=π2+kπ4\alpha = \frac{\pi}{2} + k\pi, where kZk \in \mathbb{Z}. Due to 0<α<π40 < \alpha < \frac{\pi}{4} the only possibility is α=π8\alpha = \frac{\pi}{8}. Thus BAC=4α=π2\angle BAC = 4\alpha = \frac{\pi}{2}, ACB=π2α=3π8\angle ACB = \frac{\pi}{2} - \alpha = \frac{3\pi}{8}, and CBA=π8\angle CBA = \frac{\pi}{8}.

Taking into account both symmetrical cases we conclude that the angles of the triangle ABCABC are either BAC=π2\angle BAC = \frac{\pi}{2}, ACB=3π8\angle ACB = \frac{3\pi}{8}, and CBA=π8\angle CBA = \frac{\pi}{8} or BAC=π2\angle BAC = \frac{\pi}{2}, ACB=π8\angle ACB = \frac{\pi}{8}, and CBA=3π8\angle CBA = \frac{3\pi}{8}.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.