Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2002

Geometry Difficulty 7.6 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Germany

Problem:

Prove: If xx, yy, zz are the lengths of the angle bisectors of a triangle with perimeter 66, then
1x2+1y2+1z21 \frac{1}{x^{2}}+\frac{1}{y^{2}}+\frac{1}{z^{2}} \geq 1

Solution

Solution:

Note the adjacent figure.
DPDP and DQDQ are the parallels through DD to ABAB and ACAC. Since AD=xAD = x is the angle bisector of α\alpha, AQDPAQDP is a rhombus, whose side length is denoted by uu.
From the similarity of triangles PDCPDC and QBDQBD it follows that ucu=buu\frac{u}{c-u} = \frac{b-u}{u}, from which one obtains u=bcb+cu = \frac{bc}{b+c}.
The law of cosines in triangle AQDAQD leads to
x2=2u22u2cos(πα)=2u2(1+cosα)=2u2(1+b2+c2a22bc)=2u2(b+c)2a22bc==bc(b+c)2(a+b+c)(a+b+c) \begin{aligned} x^{2} = 2u^{2} - 2u^{2} \cos(\pi - \alpha) & = 2u^{2}(1 + \cos \alpha) \\ = 2u^{2}\left(1 + \frac{b^{2} + c^{2} - a^{2}}{2bc}\right) = 2u^{2} & \frac{(b+c)^{2} - a^{2}}{2bc} = \\ & = \frac{bc}{(b+c)^{2}}(a+b+c)(-a+b+c) \end{aligned}
Figure 1
With (b+c)24bc(b+c)^{2} \geq 4bc and a+b+c=6a+b+c = 6 it follows that x21,5(a+b+c)x^{2} \leq 1,5(-a+b+c).
Similarly one obtains y21,5(ab+c)y^{2} \leq 1,5(a-b+c) and z21,5(a+bc)z^{2} \leq 1,5(a+b-c).
From the inequality between the arithmetic and geometric mean of three positive numbers it follows that (1x2+1y2+1z2)(x2+y2+z2)9\left(\frac{1}{x^{2}} + \frac{1}{y^{2}} + \frac{1}{z^{2}}\right)\left(x^{2} + y^{2} + z^{2}\right) \geq 9 and from this finally
1x2+1y2+1z29x2+y2+z291,56=1 \frac{1}{x^{2}} + \frac{1}{y^{2}} + \frac{1}{z^{2}} \geq \frac{9}{x^{2} + y^{2} + z^{2}} \geq \frac{9}{1,5 \cdot 6} = 1
where equality holds only for x=y=zx = y = z.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from de; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.