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India — Team Selection Test, 2016

Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it India

Let ABCABC be an acute triangle with circumcircle Γ\Gamma. Let A1A_1, B1B_1 and C1C_1 be respectively the midpoints of the arcs BACBAC, CBACBA and ACBACB of Γ\Gamma. Show that the inradius of triangle A1B1C1A_1B_1C_1 is not less than the inradius of triangle ABCABC.

Solution

Rotate the triangle around the centre of Γ\Gamma by 180∘180^\circ. Then A1A_1, B1B_1, C1C_1 respectively go to A2A_2, B2B_2, C2C_2. These are respectively the midpoints of the minor arc BCBC, CACA and ABAB. We see that A1B1C1A_1B_1C_1 and A2B2C2A_2B_2C_2 are congruent triangles and hence have the same in-radii. But we know that A2A_2 is the intersection of the angle bisector of ∠BAC\angle BAC with Γ\Gamma and similar descriptions hold for the other two points.
Figure 1
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Observe that ∠C2A2A=∠C2CA=∠C/2\angle C_2A_2A = \angle C_2CA = \angle C/2 and ∠B2A2A=∠B2BA=∠B/2\angle B_2A_2A = \angle B_2BA = \angle B/2. Hence ∠A2=(∠B/2)+(∠C/2)=(π−∠A)/2\angle A_2 = (\angle B/2) + (\angle C/2) = (\pi - \angle A)/2. Similarly we get other angles:
∠B2=(π−∠B)/2,∠C2=(π−∠C)/2. \angle B_2 = (\pi - \angle B)/2, \quad \angle C_2 = (\pi - \angle C)/2.
We know that for any triangle ABCABC its inradius is given by
r=4Rsin⁡(A/2)sin⁡(B/2)sin⁡(C/2), r = 4R \sin(A/2) \sin(B/2) \sin(C/2),
where RR is its circumradius. If rr and r1r_1 are respectively the inradii of △ABC\triangle ABC and △A2B2C2\triangle A_2B_2C_2, then we have
rr1=sin⁡(A/2)sin⁡(B/2)sin⁡(C/2)sin⁡((π−A)/4)sin⁡((π−B)/4)sin⁡((π−C)/4). \frac{r}{r_1} = \frac{\sin(A/2) \sin(B/2) \sin(C/2)}{\sin((\pi - A)/4) \sin((\pi - B)/4) \sin((\pi - C)/4)}.
Now we use another known identity in a triangle:
1+4∏sin⁡(π−A4)=∑sin⁡A2. 1 + 4 \prod \sin \left( \frac{\pi - A}{4} \right) = \sum \sin \frac{A}{2}.
Thus we obtain
rr1=4∏sin⁡(A/2)(∑sin⁡(A/2))−1. \frac{r}{r_1} = \frac{4 \prod \sin(A/2)}{(\sum \sin(A/2)) - 1}.
We have to show that r≤r1r \le r_1. Equivalently we have to prove that
1+4∏sin⁡(A/2)≤∑sin⁡(A/2). 1 + 4 \prod \sin(A/2) \le \sum \sin(A/2).
But we know that
∑sin⁡(A/2)≥3(∏sin⁡(A/2))1/3. \sum \sin(A/2) \ge 3 \left( \prod \sin(A/2) \right)^{1/3}.
Thus it is sufficient to prove that
1+4∏sin⁡(A/2)≤3(∏sin⁡(A/2))1/3. 1 + 4 \prod \sin(A/2) \le 3 \left( \prod \sin(A/2) \right)^{1/3}.
Introducing x=(∏sin⁡(A/2))1/3x = \left( \prod \sin(A/2) \right)^{1/3}, this inequality is equivalent to
4x3−3x+1≥0. 4x^3 - 3x + 1 \ge 0.
However it is easy to see that 4x3−3x+1=(2x−1)2(x+1)4x^3 - 3x + 1 = (2x - 1)^2(x + 1). Hence 4x3−3x+1≥04x^3 - 3x + 1 \ge 0 for all positive xx. This completes the proof.

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