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Geometry Difficulty 6.2 National olympiad Prove it China

Find all ordered triples (x,y,z)(x, y, z) of real numbers such that
{5(x+1x)=12(y+1y)=13(z+1z),xy+yz+zx=1.(posed by Zhu Huawei) \begin{cases} 5\left(x+\frac{1}{x}\right) = 12\left(y+\frac{1}{y}\right) = 13\left(z+\frac{1}{z}\right), \\ xy + yz + zx = 1. \end{cases} \quad \text{(posed by Zhu Huawei)}

Solution

There are angles A,BA, B, and CC in the interval (0,180)(0^\circ, 180^\circ) such that
x=tanA2,y=tanB2,z=tanC2. x = \tan \frac{A}{2}, \quad y = \tan \frac{B}{2}, \quad z = \tan \frac{C}{2}.
By the addition and subtraction formulas, the second equation in the given system becomes
1=tanA2tanB2+tanB2tanC2+tanC2tanA2=tanA2tanB2+tanC2tanA+B2(1tanA2tanB2), \begin{aligned} 1 &= \tan \frac{A}{2} \tan \frac{B}{2} + \tan \frac{B}{2} \tan \frac{C}{2} + \tan \frac{C}{2} \tan \frac{A}{2} \\ &= \tan \frac{A}{2} \tan \frac{B}{2} + \tan \frac{C}{2} \tan \frac{A+B}{2} \left(1 - \tan \frac{A}{2} \tan \frac{B}{2}\right), \end{aligned}
(1tanC2tanA+B2)(1tanA2tanB2)=0. (1 - \tan \frac{C}{2} \tan \frac{A+B}{2}) (1 - \tan \frac{A}{2} \tan \frac{B}{2}) = 0.
Note that tanA2tanB2=xy1\tan \frac{A}{2} \tan \frac{B}{2} = xy \neq 1, otherwise z(x+y)=0z(x+y) = 0, implying z=0z = 0, which is impossible. Therefore, tanC2tanA+B2=1\tan \frac{C}{2} \tan \frac{A+B}{2} = 1, or A+B2+C2=90\frac{A+B}{2} + \frac{C}{2} = 90^\circ. In other words, A,B,CA, B, C are the angles of a triangle. Let ABCABC denote that triangle.

We rewrite the first equation in the given system as
x5(x2+1)=y12(y2+1)=z13(z2+1). \frac{x}{5(x^2+1)} = \frac{y}{12(y^2+1)} = \frac{z}{13(z^2+1)}.
Note that, by the double-angle formula, we have
xx2+1=tanA2tan2A2+1=tanA2sec2A2=sinA2cosA2=sinA2, \frac{x}{x^2+1} = \frac{\tan \frac{A}{2}}{\tan^2 \frac{A}{2} + 1} = \frac{\tan \frac{A}{2}}{\sec^2 \frac{A}{2}} = \sin \frac{A}{2} \cos \frac{A}{2} = \frac{\sin A}{2},
and analogously for the expressions of yy and zz. We conclude that
sinA5=sinB12=sinC13. \frac{\sin A}{5} = \frac{\sin B}{12} = \frac{\sin C}{13}.
By the sine rule, the sides of triangle ABCABC are in ratio 5:12:135 : 12 : 13 with sinA=513\sin A = \frac{5}{13}, sinB=1213\sin B = \frac{12}{13} and sinC=1\sin C = 1. Hence xx2+1=526\frac{x}{x^2+1} = \frac{5}{26}, or 5x226x+5=05x^2 - 26x + 5 = 0, implying that x=5x = 5 or x=15x = \frac{1}{5}. Likewise, we have y=32y = \frac{3}{2} or y=23y = \frac{2}{3}, and z=1z = 1. Substituting z=1z = 1 into the second equation in the given system leads to xy+x+y=1xy + x + y = 1, implying that (x,y,z)=(15,23,1)(x, y, z) = (\frac{1}{5}, \frac{2}{3}, 1) is the only solution with x>0x > 0. Hence (15,23,1)(\frac{1}{5}, \frac{2}{3}, 1) and (15,23,1)(-\frac{1}{5}, -\frac{2}{3}, -1) are the solutions of the problem.

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