Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:

Prove that if two medians in a triangle are equal in length, then the triangle is isosceles.

Solutions — 4

Solution 1

Solution:

Let equal medians ADAD and BEBE in triangle ABCABC meet at FF. It is well known that
AF:FD=BF:FE=2:1. AF : FD = BF : FE = 2 : 1.
Triangle ABCABC is isosceles if we can show AC=BCAC = BC or equivalently, that AE=BDAE = BD. But triangles AFEAFE and BFDBFD are congruent with vertical angles plus sides that are 1/31/3 and 2/32/3 of the equal median length.

Figure 1

Solution 2

Solution:

Let medians AM=BNAM = BN in ABC\triangle ABC. Extend each median to AM1AM_1 and BN1BN_1 so that MM and NN are the midpoints of AM1AM_1 and BN1BN_1, respectively. By the property of bisecting diagonals, ABM1CABM_1C and ABCN1ABC N_1 are parallelograms. Hence CM1CM_1 and CN1CN_1 are each parallel and equal to ABAB. We conclude that CC lies on N1M1N_1M_1, CC is the midpoint of N1M1N_1M_1, and AM1=BN1AM_1 = BN_1 as they are twice the lengths of the original medians AMAM and BNBN. Summarizing, ABM1N1ABM_1N_1 is a trapezoid with equal diagonals.

It is easy to see that such a trapezoid is isosceles. One way to see this is to draw a line through AA parallel to diagonal BN1BN_1, until it intersects line N1M1N_1M_1 in point LL. Thus, ABN1LABN_1L is a parallelogram, so ALN1=ABN1\angle ALN_1 = \angle ABN_1. On the other hand, AM1L\triangle AM_1L is isosceles since AL=BN1=AM1AL = BN_1 = AM_1; hence, ALN1=AM1N1\angle ALN_1 = \angle AM_1N_1. Finally, ABN1M1AB \parallel N_1M_1 implies AM1N1=BAM1\angle AM_1N_1 = \angle BAM_1. We conclude that BAM1=ABN1\angle BAM_1 = \angle ABN_1, and ABN1\triangle ABN_1 and BAM1\triangle BAM_1 are congruent by two equal sides and angles between these sides. Therefore, BM1=AN1BM_1 = AN_1 and our trapezoid is isosceles. Hence AN1C=BM1C\angle AN_1C = \angle BM_1C.

Finally, ACN1\triangle ACN_1 and BCM1\triangle BCM_1 are congruent by AN1=BM1AN_1 = BM_1, CN1=CM1CN_1 = CM_1 and AN1C=BM1C\angle AN_1C = \angle BM_1C. We conclude that AC=BCAC = BC and our original ABC\triangle ABC is also isosceles.

Solution 3

Solution:

As a variation of the above solution, note that NMNM is the midsegment of ABC\triangle ABC, and as such it is parallel to ABAB. Thus ABMNABMN is a trapezoid with equal diagonals, which by a similar argument as in Solution 1 is isosceles. Therefore, BAC=ABC\angle BAC = \angle ABC and AC=BCAC = BC.

Solution 4

Solution:

A well-known formula for a parallelogram ABM1CABM_1C says: 2(AB2+AC2)=AM12+BC22(AB^2 + AC^2) = AM_1^2 + BC^2 (it can be easily proved with vectors for example). From here one derives a formula for the median AMAM of a triangle ABC\triangle ABC:
AM2=12(AB2+AC2)14BC2. AM^2 = \frac{1}{2}(AB^2 + AC^2) - \frac{1}{4} BC^2.
Similarly, the other median BNBN in ABC\triangle ABC satisfies:
BN2=12(AB2+BC2)14AC2. BN^2 = \frac{1}{2}(AB^2 + BC^2) - \frac{1}{4} AC^2.
Since AM=BNAM = BN, easy algebraic cancellations lead to AC2=BC2AC^2 = BC^2, i.e. AC=BCAC = BC and our triangle is isosceles.

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