There are two fixed points , on the coordinate plane. A bounded nonempty subset of the plane is called a "good set" if it satisfies the following two conditions:
(i) There exists a point in such that for any point in , the segment lies entirely within ;
(ii) For any triangle , there exists a unique point in and a permutation of the set such that triangle is similar to triangle .
Prove that within the set , there exist two distinct good sets such that: if and are the unique choices satisfying condition (ii), then the product is a constant value independent of the triangle .
Solution
If, in the similarity relation between and , corresponds to the longest side of , then . The condition is equivalent to , while holds for any point in the first quadrant. Hence we first define:
Note that is the intersection of a disk and the first quadrant, so it is a bounded convex set, and we may choose any point in it as to satisfy condition (i). For any point in , always holds. Hence the point satisfying condition (ii) can be uniquely determined, and its existence follows from the construction above.
Next, if, in the similarity relation between and , corresponds to the second longest side of , then . These two inequalities are respectively equivalent to and .
That is bounded and satisfies condition (ii) can be proved using an argument similar to that for . For condition (i), note that consists of points that lie inside the disk and outside the disk , so we may take to satisfy condition (i); this point is the highest point (the point with the largest -coordinate) on the circle .
Finally, we check that is a constant value. Suppose triangle satisfies . By similarity, we know:
Therefore , and this value is naturally independent of the triangle . This completes the proof.