Consider a triangle ABC. Let A1 be the symmetric point of A with respect to the line BC, B1 the symmetric point of B with respect to the line CA, and C1 the symmetric point of C with respect to the line AB. Determine the possible set of angles of triangle ABC for which A1B1C1 is equilateral.
Solution
We will use the following relation: For any angle θ, cos3θ=cosθ−4cosθsin2θ Let a,b,c be the sides of the triangle and α,β,γ be the respective angles opposite these sides. Since the triangles A1BC, AB1C and ABC1 are all congruent to the triangle ABC, we have that C1AB1=3α or ∣2π−3α∣, A1BC1=3β or ∣2π−3β∣, and B1CA1=3γ or ∣2π−3γ∣.
Applying the Cosine Law to triangle B1CA1 yields that A1B12=a2+b2−2abcos3γ where R is the circumradius of triangle ABC, the Cosine and the Sine Laws applied to that triangle yields that 2abcosγ=a2+b2−c2 and sinγ=2Rc Applying the above to the previous equation yields that A1B12=a2+b2−2abcos3γ=a2+b2−2abcosγ(1−4sin2γ)=a2+b2−(a2+b2−c2)(1−4sin2γ)=(a2+b2)(1−1+4sin2γ)+c2(1−4sin2γ)=(a2+b2−c2)(4sin2γ)+c2=R2(a2+b2−c2)c2+c2=R2c2(a2+b2−c2+R2) Similarly, B1C12=R2a2(b2+c2−a2+R2) and C1A12=R2b2(c2+a2−b2+R2) It follows that A1B1=B1C1 if and only if c2(a2+b2−c2+R2)−a2(b2+c2−a2+R2)=0 Factoring the left side yields that (c2−a2)(R2+b2−a2−c2)=0 The equality of other pairs of sides can be similarly handled. Thus, triangle A1B1C1 is equilateral if and only if the following system of three equations is valid: (c2−a2)(R2+b2−a2−c2)=0(a2−b2)(R2+c2−b2−a2)=0(b2−c2)(R2+a2−b2−c2)=0 If a is unequal to both b and c, then R2=a2+c2−b2=b2+a2−c2 so that b=c. Hence, the triangle is isosceles in any case.
Assume that b=c. Then from the middle equation, we obtain that (a2−b2)(R2−a2)=0 Therefore, either a=b, in which case the triangle is equilateral, or R=a and α=a/2R=1/2. Therefore, α=30∘ or α=150∘. Thus, there are three possible sets of angles for the triangle ABC: (60∘,60∘,60∘), (30∘,75∘,75∘) and (150∘,15∘,15∘).
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