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Slovenian Mathematical Olympiad, 2008

Geometry Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it Slovenia

Let DD be the midpoint of the segment ABAB and denote the centre of gravity of the triangle ABCABC by TT. Find the lengths of the sides given that ∣AD∣=3|AD| = 3, ∣DT∣=5|DT| = 5 and ∣TA∣=4|TA| = 4.

Solution

Since DD is the midpoint of ABAB and ∣AD∣=3|AD| = 3, we have ∣AB∣=6|AB| = 6. Let EE be the midpoint of BCBC and let FF be the midpoint of ACAC. The sides of the triangle ADTADT satisfy Pythagoras's theorem, so ADTADT is a right triangle. The ratio in which the centre of gravity divides the median is 2:12:1 and since ∣AT∣=4|AT| = 4 we have ∣AE∣=6|AE| = 6. Using Pythagoras's theorem for the triangle ABEABE we can find ∣BE∣=∣AB∣2+∣AE∣2=36+36=62|BE| = \sqrt{|AB|^2 + |AE|^2} = \sqrt{36+36} = 6\sqrt{2}. This implies ∣BC∣=2∣BE∣=122|BC| = 2|BE| = 12\sqrt{2}. Since EE and FF are the midpoints of BCBC and ACAC, the segment EFEF is parallel to ABAB.

Figure 1

Since EAEA is perpendicular to ABAB, EAEA is also perpendicular to EFEF. Thus, AEFAEF is a right triangle. We have already shown that ∣AE∣=6|AE| = 6, and we have ∣EF∣=∣AB∣2=3|EF| = \frac{|AB|}{2} = 3. We use Pythagoras's theorem once more to find
∣FA∣=∣EF∣2+∣AE∣2=9+36=35. |FA| = \sqrt{|EF|^2 + |AE|^2} = \sqrt{9+36} = 3\sqrt{5}.
The length of the side ACAC is ∣AC∣=2∣AF∣=65|AC| = 2|AF| = 6\sqrt{5}.

Figure 1

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