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Geometry Difficulty 6.6 National olympiad Prove it Saudi Arabia

Consider a triangle ABCABC. Let A1A_{1} be the symmetric point of AA with respect to the line BCBC, B1B_{1} the symmetric point of BB with respect to the line CACA, and C1C_{1} the symmetric point of CC with respect to the line ABAB. Determine the possible set of angles of triangle ABCABC for which A1B1C1A_{1}B_{1}C_{1} is equilateral.

Solution

We will use the following relation: For any angle θ\theta,
cos3θ=cosθ4cosθsin2θ \cos 3\theta = \cos \theta - 4 \cos \theta \sin^2 \theta
Let a,b,ca, b, c be the sides of the triangle and α,β,γ\alpha, \beta, \gamma be the respective angles opposite these sides. Since the triangles A1BCA_{1}BC, AB1CAB_{1}C and ABC1ABC_{1} are all congruent to the triangle ABCABC, we have that C1AB1^=3α\widehat{C_{1}AB_{1}} = 3\alpha or 2π3α|2\pi - 3\alpha|, A1BC1^=3β\widehat{A_{1}BC_{1}} = 3\beta or 2π3β|2\pi - 3\beta|, and B1CA1^=3γ\widehat{B_{1}CA_{1}} = 3\gamma or 2π3γ|2\pi - 3\gamma|.

Applying the Cosine Law to triangle B1CA1B_{1}CA_{1} yields that
A1B12=a2+b22abcos3γ A_{1}B_{1}^2 = a^2 + b^2 - 2ab \cos 3\gamma
where RR is the circumradius of triangle ABCABC, the Cosine and the Sine Laws applied to that triangle yields that
2abcosγ=a2+b2c2 2ab \cos \gamma = a^2 + b^2 - c^2
and
sinγ=c2R \sin \gamma = \frac{c}{2R}
Applying the above to the previous equation yields that
A1B12=a2+b22abcos3γ=a2+b22abcosγ(14sin2γ)=a2+b2(a2+b2c2)(14sin2γ)=(a2+b2)(11+4sin2γ)+c2(14sin2γ)=(a2+b2c2)(4sin2γ)+c2=(a2+b2c2)c2R2+c2=c2R2(a2+b2c2+R2) \begin{gathered} A_{1}B_{1}^2 = a^2 + b^2 - 2ab \cos 3\gamma = a^2 + b^2 - 2ab \cos \gamma (1 - 4 \sin^2 \gamma) \\ = a^2 + b^2 - (a^2 + b^2 - c^2)(1 - 4 \sin^2 \gamma) \\ = (a^2 + b^2)(1 - 1 + 4 \sin^2 \gamma) + c^2(1 - 4 \sin^2 \gamma) \\ = (a^2 + b^2 - c^2)(4 \sin^2 \gamma) + c^2 = \frac{(a^2 + b^2 - c^2)c^2}{R^2} + c^2 \\ = \frac{c^2}{R^2}(a^2 + b^2 - c^2 + R^2) \end{gathered}
Similarly,
B1C12=a2R2(b2+c2a2+R2) B_{1}C_{1}^2 = \frac{a^2}{R^2}(b^2 + c^2 - a^2 + R^2)
and
C1A12=b2R2(c2+a2b2+R2) C_{1}A_{1}^2 = \frac{b^2}{R^2}(c^2 + a^2 - b^2 + R^2)
It follows that A1B1=B1C1A_{1}B_{1} = B_{1}C_{1} if and only if
c2(a2+b2c2+R2)a2(b2+c2a2+R2)=0 c^2(a^2 + b^2 - c^2 + R^2) - a^2(b^2 + c^2 - a^2 + R^2) = 0
Factoring the left side yields that
(c2a2)(R2+b2a2c2)=0 (c^2 - a^2)(R^2 + b^2 - a^2 - c^2) = 0
The equality of other pairs of sides can be similarly handled. Thus, triangle A1B1C1A_{1}B_{1}C_{1} is equilateral if and only if the following system of three equations is valid:
(c2a2)(R2+b2a2c2)=0(a2b2)(R2+c2b2a2)=0(b2c2)(R2+a2b2c2)=0 \begin{aligned} & (c^2 - a^2)(R^2 + b^2 - a^2 - c^2) = 0 \\ & (a^2 - b^2)(R^2 + c^2 - b^2 - a^2) = 0 \\ & (b^2 - c^2)(R^2 + a^2 - b^2 - c^2) = 0 \end{aligned}
If aa is unequal to both bb and cc, then
R2=a2+c2b2=b2+a2c2 R^2 = a^2 + c^2 - b^2 = b^2 + a^2 - c^2
so that b=cb = c. Hence, the triangle is isosceles in any case.

Assume that b=cb = c. Then from the middle equation, we obtain that
(a2b2)(R2a2)=0 (a^2 - b^2)(R^2 - a^2) = 0
Therefore, either a=ba = b, in which case the triangle is equilateral, or R=aR = a and α=a/2R=1/2\alpha = a / 2R = 1/2. Therefore, α=30\alpha = 30^\circ or α=150\alpha = 150^\circ. Thus, there are three possible sets of angles for the triangle ABCABC: (60,60,60)(60^\circ, 60^\circ, 60^\circ), (30,75,75)(30^\circ, 75^\circ, 75^\circ) and (150,15,15)(150^\circ, 15^\circ, 15^\circ).

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