GeometryDifficulty 7.4National Olympiad, round 2Prove itSouth Korea
For the vertex A of △ABC, define ℓA by the distance between the feet of perpendiculars drawn to the sides AB and AC from the intersection of the angle bisector of ∠A and the side BC. Similarly, define ℓB and ℓC for the vertices B and C, respectively. Prove the inequality ℓ3ℓAℓBℓC≤641 where ℓ is the perimeter of △ABC.
Solution
Let a, b and c be the lengths of the opposite sides of vertices A, B and C, respectively. Also, let D be the intersection of BC and the angle bisector of ∠A. Put p=BD and q=CD. Since AD is the angle bisector of ∠A, we have bp=cq and thus a little manipulation yields p=b+cacandq=b+cab.(1) Meanwhile, since cos(∠ADB)+cos(∠ADC)=0, we have by the Cosine Law 2pxx2+p2−c2+2qxx2+q2−b2=0 where x=AD. This, together with (1), yields x2=bc−pq=bc[1−(b+ca)2]=(b+c)2bc(b+c−a)ℓ.(2) Now, let E and F be the feet of perpendiculars drawn from D to AB and AC, respectively. Then, since □AEDF is inscribed in a circle, we have ∠DEF=∠DAF. Accordingly, applying the Sine Law, we have sinAℓA=sin(∠EDF)ℓA=sin(∠DEF)DF=sin(∠DAF)DF=x. Thus, denoting the area of △ABC by T, we have by (2) ℓA=xsinA=bc2xT=(b+c)bc2T(b+c−a)ℓ. Parallel arguments yield ℓB=(c+a)ca2T(c+a−b)ℓ
and ℓC=(a+b)ab2T(a+b−c)ℓ. Hence, using Heron's formula, we obtain ℓAℓBℓC=abc(a+b)(b+c)(c+a)8T3ℓ(a+b−c)(b+c−a)(c+a−b)ℓ=8abc(a+b)(b+c)(c+a)ℓ3(a+b−c)2(b+c−a)2(c+a−b)2. Since a+b≥2ab, b+c≥2bc, c+a≥2ca by the AM-GM inequality, we deduce from the above that ℓ3ℓAℓBℓC≤64a2b2c2(a+b−c)2(b+c−a)2(c+a−b)2.(3) Moreover, since a, b and c are side lengths of a triangle, we have 0<(a+b−c)(c+a−b)0<(a+b−c)(b+c−a)0<(b+c−a)(c+a−b)=a2−(b−c)2≤a2,=b2−(a−c)2≤b2,=c2−(a−b)2≤c2, and thus 0<(a−b+c)2(b−a+c)2(c−a+b)2≤a2b2c2.(4) From inequalities (3) and (4) follows the required inequality. □
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