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Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Ukraine

Find all positive real numbers a,b,ca, b, c, which satisfy the equality:
ab(1c2(a+b)2)=bc(1a2(b+c)2)=ca(1b2(c+a)2). ab\left(1 - \frac{c^2}{(a+b)^2}\right) = bc\left(1 - \frac{a^2}{(b+c)^2}\right) = ca\left(1 - \frac{b^2}{(c+a)^2}\right).

Solution

Rewrite the given equality in the following way:
a((a+b)2c2)(a+b)2=c((b+c)2a2)(b+c)2ora(a+bc)(a+b+c)(a+b)2=c(b+ca)(b+c+a)(b+c)2. \frac{a((a+b)^2-c^2)}{(a+b)^2} = \frac{c((b+c)^2-a^2)}{(b+c)^2} \quad \text{or} \quad \frac{a(a+b-c)(a+b+c)}{(a+b)^2} = \frac{c(b+c-a)(b+c+a)}{(b+c)^2}.
After dividing by a+b+ca+b+c we obtain
a(a+bc)(a+b)2=c(b+ca)(b+c)2. \frac{a(a+b-c)}{(a+b)^2} = \frac{c(b+c-a)}{(b+c)^2}.
Suppose that ca+bc \ge a+b. Then b+c>ab+c > a, so the left side of the equality is not positive while the right side is positive. This contradiction means that b+c>ab+c > a, a+c>ba+c > b and b+a>cb+a > c so we can treat the sides a,b,ca, b, c as sides of a triangle.
But the given equalities literally mean that the angle bisectors of this triangle are equal. Indeed: lc2=aba1b1l_c^2 = ab - a_1b_1, where a1,b1a_1, b_1 are the lengths of the two parts of the opposite side which are derived after drawing the angle bisector. Then we have: a1+b1=ca_1 + b_1 = c and a1b1=ab\frac{a_1}{b_1} = \frac{a}{b}. It is easy to see that a1=aca+ba_1 = \frac{ac}{a+b} and b1=bca+bb_1 = \frac{bc}{a+b}. Then lc2=aba1b1=ababc2(a+b)2=ab(1c2(a+b)2)l_c^2 = ab - a_1b_1 = ab - \frac{abc^2}{(a+b)^2} = ab\left(1 - \frac{c^2}{(a+b)^2}\right). Since if three angle bisectors are equal the triangle is regular, we obtain that the solutions are (t,t,t)(t, t, t), where t>0t > 0.

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