Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Philippines

Problem:

Let PP be a point in the interior of ABC\triangle ABC. Extend APAP, BPBP, and CPCP to meet BCBC, ACAC, and ABAB at DD, EE, and FF, respectively. If APF\triangle APF, BPD\triangle BPD, and CPE\triangle CPE have equal areas, prove that PP is the centroid of ABC\triangle ABC.

Solution

Solution:

Denote by (XYZ)(XYZ) the area of XYZ\triangle XYZ. Let w=(APF)=(BPD)=(CPE)w = (APF) = (BPD) = (CPE), x=(BPF)x = (BPF), y=(CPD)y = (CPD), and z=(APE)z = (APE).

Having the same altitude, we get
BDDC=(BAD)(CAD)=2w+xw+y+z \frac{BD}{DC} = \frac{(BAD)}{(CAD)} = \frac{2w + x}{w + y + z}
and
BDDC=(BPD)(CPD)=wy \frac{BD}{DC} = \frac{(BPD)}{(CPD)} = \frac{w}{y}
which implies
Figure 1
wy+xy=w2+wz w y + x y = w^2 + w z
Similarly, we also get
wz+yz=w2+wxandwx+xz=w2+wy w z + y z = w^2 + w x \quad \text{and} \quad w x + x z = w^2 + w y
Combining equations (1) and (2) gives
xy+yz+xz=3w2 x y + y z + x z = 3w^2
On the other hand, by Ceva's Theorem, we have
AFFBBDDCCEEA=(APF)(BPF)(BPD)(CPD)(CPE)(APE)=wxwywz=1 \frac{AF}{FB} \cdot \frac{BD}{DC} \cdot \frac{CE}{EA} = \frac{(APF)}{(BPF)} \cdot \frac{(BPD)}{(CPD)} \cdot \frac{(CPE)}{(APE)} = \frac{w}{x} \cdot \frac{w}{y} \cdot \frac{w}{z} = 1
or
w3=xyz w^3 = x y z
Applying equation (5) to equation (3) gives
wz+wx+wy=3 \frac{w}{z} + \frac{w}{x} + \frac{w}{y} = 3
Equations (4) and (6) assert that the geometric mean and the arithmetic mean of the positive numbers wx\frac{w}{x}, wy\frac{w}{y}, and wz\frac{w}{z} are equal. By the equality condition of the AM-GM Inequality, it follows that
wx=wy=wz=1orw=x=y=z \frac{w}{x} = \frac{w}{y} = \frac{w}{z} = 1 \quad \text{or} \quad w = x = y = z
Therefore, we conclude that AF=FBAF = FB, BD=DCBD = DC, and CE=EACE = EA, which means that PP is the centroid of ABC\triangle ABC.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.