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Iranian Mathematical Olympiad

Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Iran

Let A1,A2,…,AkA_1, A_2, \dots, A_k be points on the unit circle. Prove that
∑1≤i<j≤kd(Ai,Aj)2≤k2, \sum_{1 \le i < j \le k} d(A_i, A_j)^2 \le k^2,
where d(Ai,Aj)d(A_i, A_j) denotes the distance between Ai,AjA_i, A_j.

Solution

Assume that the circle mentioned in the problem is the unit circle on the complex plane. Then we can say every vertex AiA_i is equivalent to a complex number ziz_i such that ∣zi∣=1|z_i| = 1. On the other hand we have d(Ai,Aj)=∣zi−zj∣d(A_i, A_j) = |z_i - z_j|. So we should prove that
∑1≤i<j≤k∣zi−zj∣2≤k2. \sum_{1 \le i < j \le k} |z_i - z_j|^2 \le k^2.
We know that
∣zi−zj∣2=(zi−zj)(zˉi−zˉj)=∣zi∣2+∣zj∣2−(zˉizj+zˉjzi)=2−zˉizj−zˉjzi. |z_i - z_j|^2 = (z_i - z_j)(\bar{z}_i - \bar{z}_j) = |z_i|^2 + |z_j|^2 - (\bar{z}_i z_j + \bar{z}_j z_i) = 2 - \bar{z}_i z_j - \bar{z}_j z_i.
So we have
∑1≤i<j≤k∣zi−zj∣2=2(k2)−∑1≤i<j≤k(zˉizj+zˉjzi). \sum_{1 \le i < j \le k} |z_i - z_j|^2 = 2 \binom{k}{2} - \sum_{1 \le i < j \le k} (\bar{z}_i z_j + \bar{z}_j z_i).
and
∑1≤i<j≤k(zˉizj+zˉjzi)=∑1≤i≠j≤kzˉizj=∑1≤i≤kzˉi(z1+⋯+zk−zi)=(∑1≤i≤kzˉi)(∑1≤i≤kzi)−k=∣∑1≤i≤kzi∣2−k. \begin{align*} \sum_{1 \le i < j \le k} (\bar{z}_i z_j + \bar{z}_j z_i) &= \sum_{1 \le i \ne j \le k} \bar{z}_i z_j = \sum_{1 \le i \le k} \bar{z}_i (z_1 + \dots + z_k - z_i) \\ &= \left( \sum_{1 \le i \le k} \bar{z}_i \right) \left( \sum_{1 \le i \le k} z_i \right) - k = \left| \sum_{1 \le i \le k} z_i \right|^2 - k. \end{align*}
Therefore,
∑1≤i<j≤k∣zi−zj∣2=k2−k−(∣∑1≤i≤kzi∣2−k)=k2−∣∑1≤i≤kzi∣2. \sum_{1 \le i < j \le k} |z_i - z_j|^2 = k^2 - k - \left( \left| \sum_{1 \le i \le k} z_i \right|^2 - k \right) = k^2 - \left| \sum_{1 \le i \le k} z_i \right|^2.
Since ∣∑1≤i≤kzi∣2≥0\left| \sum_{1 \le i \le k} z_i \right|^2 \ge 0, we have
∑1≤i<j≤k∣zi−zj∣2≤k2. \sum_{1 \le i < j \le k} |z_i - z_j|^2 \le k^2.
Equality holds whenever ∑1≤i≤kzi=0\sum_{1 \le i \le k} z_i = 0, in other words, when the circumcenter and the centroid of A1A2…AkA_1A_2\dots A_k coincide.

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