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IRL ABooklet

Geometry Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Suppose △ABC\triangle ABC is a triangle inscribed in the unit circle. Prove that its area doesn't exceed 33/43\sqrt{3}/4, and its perimeter doesn't exceed 333\sqrt{3}, with equality in both cases iff the triangle is equilateral.

Solution

Let OO denote the centre of the circle, and let α,β,γ\alpha, \beta, \gamma, respectively, be the radian measures of the vertex angles ∠A,∠B,∠C\angle A, \angle B, \angle C. Since the circumradius of ABCABC is 11, the formula for the circumradius of any triangle tells us that
asin⁡α=bsin⁡β=csin⁡γ=2, \frac{a}{\sin \alpha} = \frac{b}{\sin \beta} = \frac{c}{\sin \gamma} = 2,
and so the area of ABCABC is given by
(ABC)=12absin⁡γ=2sin⁡αsin⁡βsin⁡γ. (ABC) = \frac{1}{2}ab \sin \gamma = 2 \sin \alpha \sin \beta \sin \gamma.

We now show that the function f(x)=ln⁡(sin⁡x)f(x) = \ln(\sin x) is strictly concave on (0,π)(0, \pi) which enables us to apply Jensen's inequality. Indeed, if x,y∈(0,π)x, y \in (0, \pi), then
sin⁡x⋅sin⁡y=12(cos⁡(x−y)−cos⁡(x+y))=sin⁡2(x+y2)−sin⁡2(x−y2)≤sin⁡2(x+y2), \begin{aligned} \sin x \cdot \sin y &= \frac{1}{2}(\cos(x-y) - \cos(x+y)) \\ &= \sin^2\left(\frac{x+y}{2}\right) - \sin^2\left(\frac{x-y}{2}\right) \le \sin^2\left(\frac{x+y}{2}\right), \end{aligned}
with equality iff x=yx = y. Taking logarithms this yields
f(x)+f(y)2≤f(x+y2) \frac{f(x) + f(y)}{2} \le f\left(\frac{x+y}{2}\right)
with equality iff x=yx = y. This shows that ff is strictly concave on (0,π)(0, \pi) and we can use Jensen's inequality: f(x)+f(y)+f(z)≤3f(x+y+z3)f(x) + f(y) + f(z) \le 3f\left(\frac{x+y+z}{3}\right), which translates into
(ABC)≤2sin⁡3(α+β+γ3)=2sin⁡3(π3)=334, (ABC) \le 2 \sin^3 \left( \frac{\alpha + \beta + \gamma}{3} \right) = 2 \sin^3 \left( \frac{\pi}{3} \right) = \frac{3\sqrt{3}}{4},
with equality iff α=β=γ\alpha = \beta = \gamma. That is, (ABC)≤334(ABC) \le \frac{3\sqrt{3}}{4}, with equality iff the triangle is equilateral.
From the formula for the circumradius, already employed above, we obtain a=2sin⁡αa = 2\sin\alpha, b=2sin⁡βb = 2\sin\beta, and c=2sin⁡γc = 2\sin\gamma. Hence the perimeter pp of ABCABC is equal to 2(sin⁡α+sin⁡β+sin⁡γ)2(\sin\alpha + \sin\beta + \sin\gamma) and Jensen's inequality for the strictly concave function sin⁡(x)\sin(x) on [0,π][0, \pi] gives
p=2(sin⁡α+sin⁡β+sin⁡γ)≤6sin⁡(α+β+γ3)=6sin⁡π3=33, p = 2(\sin \alpha + \sin \beta + \sin \gamma) \le 6 \sin \left( \frac{\alpha + \beta + \gamma}{3} \right) = 6 \sin \frac{\pi}{3} = 3\sqrt{3},
with equality iff α=β=γ=π/3\alpha = \beta = \gamma = \pi/3, i.e. equality holds, iff ABCABC is equilateral.

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