Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /3 of 10

, 2015

Geometry Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it Taiwan

Let ABCABC be a triangle. Points K,L,MK, L, M lie on segments BC,CA,ABBC, CA, AB respectively, such that the three lines AK,BL,CMAK, BL, CM meet at a single point.
Prove that one can select two out of the three triangles ALM,BMK,CKLALM, BMK, CKL such that the sum of their inradii is greater than or equal to the inradius of triangle ABCABC.

Solution

Denote
a=BKKC,b=CLLA,c=AMMB. a = \frac{BK}{KC}, \quad b = \frac{CL}{LA}, \quad c = \frac{AM}{MB}.
By Ceva's theorem we know abc=1abc = 1. Hence without loss of generality we may assume a1a \ge 1. Then at least one of b,cb, c is not greater than 1. Therefore, among the two pairs (a,b),(b,c)(a, b), (b, c), at least one pair has its first number not less than 1 and its second number not greater than 1. Without loss of generality, assume further that 1a1 \le a and b1b \le 1.
From this we obtain bc1bc \le 1 and 1ca1 \le ca, that is,
AMMBLACL and MBAMBKKC. \frac{AM}{MB} \le \frac{LA}{CL} \text{ and } \frac{MB}{AM} \le \frac{BK}{KC}.
The first inequality above tells us that: the line through MM parallel to BCBC meets segment AL at a point XX. Therefore, the inradius of triangle ALMALM is not less than the inradius r1r_1 of triangle AMXAMX.
Similarly, the second inequality indicates that: the line through MM parallel to ACAC meets segment BK at a point YY, so the inradius of triangle BMKBMK is not less than the inradius r2r_2 of triangle BMYBMY. To complete the proof, it suffices to show that r1+r2rr_1 + r_2 \ge r, where rr is the inradius of triangle ABCABC. In fact, we will prove that: r1+r2=rr_1 + r_2 = r.

Figure 1

Since MXBCMX \parallel BC, the homothety centered at AA that sends MM to BB will send the incircle of triangle AMXAMX to the incircle of triangle ABCABC. Hence we have
r1r=AMAB. \frac{r_1}{r} = \frac{AM}{AB}.
Similarly we obtain
r2r=MBAB. \frac{r_2}{r} = \frac{MB}{AB}.
Adding these two equations gives the desired result.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from zh; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.