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Geometry Difficulty 6.2 National Olympiad Prove it Philippines

Problem:
Let S\mathcal{S} be the set of all points in the plane. Find all functions f:SRf: \mathcal{S} \rightarrow \mathbb{R} such that for all nondegenerate triangles ABCA B C with orthocenter HH, if f(A)f(B)f(C)f(A) \leq f(B) \leq f(C), then
f(A)+f(C)=f(B)+f(H) f(A)+f(C)=f(B)+f(H)

Solution

Solution:
Let P(A,B,C)P(A, B, C) be the problem assertion. First consider a non-right triangle ABCA B C with orthocenter HH. Note that in the set {A,B,C,H}\{A, B, C, H\}, the last point is the orthocenter of the other three. Thus, we can assume WLOG f(A)f(B)f(C)f(H)f(A) \leq f(B) \leq f(C) \leq f(H).
By considering P(A,B,C)P(A, B, C), this implies f(A)+f(C)=f(B)+f(H)f(A)+f(C)=f(B)+f(H). Since f(A)f(B)f(A) \leq f(B) and f(C)f(H)f(C) \leq f(H), this implies equality must hold in both inequalities, and so f(A)=f(B)f(A)=f(B) and f(C)=f(H)f(C)=f(H).
Denote by ΩBC\Omega_{B C} the circle with diameter BCB C. We prove the following claim.

Claim: If f(B)f(C)f(B) \neq f(C), then for all DΩBCD \in \Omega_{B C}, we have 2f(D)=f(B)+f(C)2 f(D)=f(B)+f(C). In particular, ff is constant on ΩBC\Omega_{B C}.

Proof: We split into cases. If f(D)[f(B),f(C)]f(D) \notin [f(B), f(C)], then P(B,C,D)P(B, C, D) implies
f(D)+f(C)=f(B)+f(D) f(D)+f(C)=f(B)+f(D)
which implies f(B)=f(C)f(B)=f(C), contradiction. Thus, f(D)[f(B),f(C)]f(D) \in [f(B), f(C)], from which P(B,C,D)P(B, C, D) implies
f(B)+f(C)=2f(D) f(B)+f(C)=2 f(D)
The claim then follows.

Now we claim that f(B)=f(C)f(B)=f(C). Assume for the sake of contradiction that this was not the case. Consider ΩAC\Omega_{A C}, and let D=AHBCΩACD=A H \cap B C \in \Omega_{A C}. Let ΩBD\Omega_{B D'} intersect ΩAC\Omega_{A C} at a second point DDD'' \neq D'. Then since f(A)f(C)f(A) \neq f(C), from the claim we get 2f(D)=f(A)+f(C)2 f\left(D'\right)=f(A)+f(C).

Now we have two cases. In the first case, suppose f(B)=f(D)f(B)=f\left(D'\right). Then 2f(B)=f(A)+f(C)2 f(B)=f(A)+f(C), implying f(B)=f(C)f(B)=f(C), contradiction. In the second case, we have f(B)+f(D)=2f(D)=f(C)+f(A)f(B)+f\left(D'\right)=2 f\left(D''\right)=f(C)+f(A). This implies f(C)=f(D)f(C)=f\left(D'\right), and so
2f(C)=2f(D)=f(C)+f(A) 2 f(C)=2 f\left(D'\right)=f(C)+f(A)
implying f(C)=f(A)=f(B)f(C)=f(A)=f(B), another contradiction. Thus our assumption was wrong, and f(B)=f(C)f(B)=f(C). This implies f(A)=f(B)=f(C)=f(H)f(A)=f(B)=f(C)=f(H) for any nondegenerate non-right triangle ABCA B C, and so ff is constant everywhere (by considering two segments whose diameter circles do not intersect). It is clear that these solutions work.

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