Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 6.1 National Olympiad Prove it Estonia

a. Given a convex quadrilateral ABCDABCD with AD<ABAD < AB and CD<CBCD < CB, is the internal angle at BB always less than the internal angle at DD?

b. The same question for a non-convex quadrilateral.

Solution

a.
Consider the triangles ADBADB and CDBCDB (Fig. 21). The claim AD<ABAD < AB implies ABD<ADB\angle ABD < \angle ADB because the longer side is opposite to the larger angle. Similarly, CD<CBCD < CB implies CBD<CDB\angle CBD < \angle CDB. As ABCDABCD is convex, ABD+CBD=ABC\angle ABD + \angle CBD = \angle ABC and ADB+CDB=ADC\angle ADB + \angle CDB = \angle ADC. Hence, adding the two inequalities gives ABC<ADC\angle ABC < \angle ADC.

Figure 1
Fig. 21

b.
Let points A,B,CA, B, C be such that AB=BC>ACAB = BC > AC. Choose point DD' on the line tangent to the circumcircle of the triangle ABCABC at AA in such a way that BB and DD' lie on the same side of ACAC and the inequalities AD<ABAD' < AB and CD<BCCD' < BC hold (the last inequality is possible since AC<BCAC < BC); let DD be the reflection of DD' from ACAC (Fig. 22). Then both assumptions AD<ABAD < AB and CD<CBCD < CB hold. But the claim ABC<ADC\angle ABC < \angle ADC is not true: since DD' lies outside the circumference of triangle ABCABC, we have ABC>ADC=ADC\angle ABC > \angle AD'C = \angle ADC. Hence the hypothesis does not hold for non-convex quadrilaterals.

Figure 2
Fig. 22

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