Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Philippines

Problem:

In triangle ABCABC, AB=6AB = 6, BC=10BC = 10, and CA=14CA = 14. If DD, EE, and FF are the midpoints of sides BCBC, CACA, and ABAB, respectively, find AD2+BE2+CF2AD^{2} + BE^{2} + CF^{2}.

Solution

Solution:

We use Stewart's Theorem with the median ADAD (note that BD=CD=BC2BD = CD = \frac{BC}{2}):
CA2(BD)+AB2(CD)=BC(AD2+(BD)(CD))12(CA2+AB2)=AD2+(BC2)2 CA^{2}(BD) + AB^{2}(CD) = BC\left(AD^{2} + (BD)(CD)\right) \rightarrow \frac{1}{2}\left(CA^{2} + AB^{2}\right) = AD^{2} + \left(\frac{BC}{2}\right)^{2}
Similarly, by using Stewart's Theorem with the medians BEBE and CFCF, we get:
12(BC2+AB2)=BE2+(CA2)2 \frac{1}{2}\left(BC^{2} + AB^{2}\right) = BE^{2} + \left(\frac{CA}{2}\right)^{2}
and
12(CA2+BC2)=CF2+(AB2)2 \frac{1}{2}\left(CA^{2} + BC^{2}\right) = CF^{2} + \left(\frac{AB}{2}\right)^{2}
Adding these three equations, we have:
AB2+BC2+CA2=AD2+BE2+CF2+14(AB2+BC2+CA2) AB^{2} + BC^{2} + CA^{2} = AD^{2} + BE^{2} + CF^{2} + \frac{1}{4}\left(AB^{2} + BC^{2} + CA^{2}\right)
Thus,
AD2+BE2+CF2=34(AB2+BC2+CA2)=34(62+102+142)=249 AD^{2} + BE^{2} + CF^{2} = \frac{3}{4}\left(AB^{2} + BC^{2} + CA^{2}\right) = \frac{3}{4}\left(6^{2} + 10^{2} + 14^{2}\right) = 249

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