Consider all the triangles which have a fixed base and whose altitude from is a constant . For which of these triangles is the product of its altitudes a maximum?
Solution
Let and be the altitudes from and , respectively. Then
which is a constant. So the product attains its maximum when the product attains its minimum.
Since
which is a constant, attains its minimum when reaches its maximum. There are two cases:
a. . Then there exists a triangle which has a right angle at , and for precisely such a triangle attains its maximum, namely .
b. . In this case the angle at is acute and assumes its maximum when the triangle is isosceles.
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