a) Complex numbers x and y are given on the perimeter of the unit circle such that 3π≤arg(x)−arg(y)≤35π.
b) Complex numbers x and y are given such that 3π≤arg(x)−arg(y)≤32π. For each z∈C show that ∣z∣+∣z−x∣+∣z−y∣≥23x+(y−21)i.
(For a complex number z, arg(z) is defined to be the counterclockwise angle between the axis of the real numbers with the vector z.)
Solution
a) Let O be the origin point of the complex plane. Consider numbers x,y as points on this plane. The given inequality implies ∠yOx≤3π. But since Oxy is an isosceles triangle with ∣Ox∣=∣Oy∣=1, this means ∣xy∣=∣x−y∣≥1. Therefore for any complex number z it is deduced that ⟹∣z−x∣+∣z−y∣≥∣x−y∣≥1∣z∣+∣z−x∣+∣z−y∣≥∣z∣+1=∣zx∣+∣y∣≥∣zx−y∣
b) The given inequality implies triangle Oxy has three angles, all less than or equal to 32π, so its first Fermat point does not lie outside of it. The expression ∣z∣+∣z−x∣+∣z−y∣ is the sum of distances from point z to the vertices of △Oxy. This sum is minimized when z is the Fermat point. So it's needed to calculate the given sum for the Fermat point. Let p be the clockwise rotation of x with respect to the origin point and angle 3π, i.e. p=cis(3π)x=21+23ix. Due to the properties of Fermat point, the desired value is the distance between y and p, which is ∣y−p∣=∣yi−pi∣=yi−(21i−23)x=23x+(y−21)i, hence the desired inequality holds.
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.
Source: MathNet,
licensed CC-BY-4.0.
Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.