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Geometry Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it Ireland

The sides of triangle ABCABC have lengths a,b,ca, b, c which satisfy
a62b3+2c3+b6+2b3c3+c62a3+2a3b3+2a3c3a3+b3+c3=a3+b3+c3. \frac{a^6}{2b^3 + 2c^3} + \frac{b^6 + 2b^3c^3 + c^6}{2a^3} + \frac{2a^3b^3 + 2a^3c^3}{a^3 + b^3 + c^3} = a^3 + b^3 + c^3.
Determine if one of the internal angles of triangle ABCABC can be a right angle or an obtuse angle, or if all internal angles must be acute.

Solution

If we use the abbreviation u=a3u = a^3 and v=b3+c3v = b^3 + c^3, the given equation can be written as
u22v+v22u+2uvu+v=u+v. \frac{u^2}{2v} + \frac{v^2}{2u} + \frac{2uv}{u+v} = u+v.
This is the same as
u3+v32uv=u+v2uvu+v=u2+v2u+v, \frac{u^3 + v^3}{2uv} = u + v - \frac{2uv}{u+v} = \frac{u^2 + v^2}{u+v},
or (u+v)(u3+v3)=2uv(u2+v2)(u+v)(u^3+v^3) = 2uv(u^2+v^2), which simplifies to u4+v4=u3v+uv3u^4+v^4 = u^3v + uv^3.
This is easily be seen to be the same as (uv)(u3v3)=0(u-v)(u^3-v^3) = 0, which can be written as (uv)2(u2+uv+v2)=0(u-v)^2(u^2+uv+v^2) = 0. Because u>0u > 0 and v>0v > 0, this equation is only possible if u=vu = v. This shows that the original equation is equivalent to a3=b3+c3a^3 = b^3 + c^3. In particular, b<ab < a and c<ac < a and so b/a<1b/a < 1 and c/a<1c/a < 1 and the angle A\angle A, which is opposite aa, is the largest internal angle of ABC\triangle ABC. We now obtain
(ba)2+(ca)2>(ba)3+(ca)3=1, \left(\frac{b}{a}\right)^2 + \left(\frac{c}{a}\right)^2 > \left(\frac{b}{a}\right)^3 + \left(\frac{c}{a}\right)^3 = 1,
hence b2+c2>a2b^2+c^2 > a^2. The Cosine Rule 2bccosA=b2+c2a2>02bc \cos \angle A = b^2+c^2-a^2 > 0 shows that cosA>0\cos \angle A > 0 and A\angle A must be acute. Therefore, all angles in triangle ABCABC are acute.

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