Problem:
Find the minimum possible value of
where .
, 2017
Solution
Solution:
Substitute and , and notice that , , , and . Therefore the first term is an application of Law of Cosines on a triangle that has two sides and with an angle measuring between them to find the length of the third side; similarly, the second is for a triangle with two sides and that have an angle measuring between them. "Gluing" these two triangles together along their sides of length so that the merged triangles form a right angle, we see that the minimum length of the sum of their third sides occurs when the glued triangles form a right triangle. This right triangle has legs of length and , so its hypotenuse has length .
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