We are given an equilateral triangle with sides of length . We consider all equilateral triangles with sides of length satisfying the following properties:
* lies on the side ,
* lies on the side and
* lies in the interior or on the edge of the triangle ,
Describe the set of all points in the triangle that are centroids of such triangles .
Solution
Let and be given fulfilling the conditions of the problem. Considering the circumcircle of , we note that the centroid of must lie on , since both and hold. Since , the arcs and are of equal length, and we therefore have . All centroids therefore lie on the angle bisector of . The most extreme positions of are assumed when coincides with or the mid-point of . In the latter case, is also the centroid, i.e. the mid-point, of . In the former, is the centroid of the triangle (where is the mid-point of ). The set of all centroids of triangles fulfilling all requirements is therefore the middle third of the bisector (which is also the altitude in ).
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.