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IMO Hk TST

Geometry Difficulty 8.6 Shortlist Prove it Hong Kong

Let ABCABC be a triangle. Let MM be the midpoint of BCBC, and let GG be the centroid of △ABC\triangle ABC. Let DD be a point on the segment GMGM. A straight line passing through DD meets the sides ABAB and ACAC at EE and FF respectively (with E,F≠AE, F \ne A). Show that
[BEGF]+[CFGE]≥49[ABC]. [BEGF] + [CFGE] \ge \frac{4}{9}[ABC].
When does the equality hold? (Here [WXYZ][WXYZ] is the area of the polygon WXYZWXYZ, etc.)

Solution

Let E′E' and F′F' be the points on ABAB and ACAC such that E′E', GG, F′F' are collinear and E′F′∥EFE'F' \parallel EF. Since △EFG\triangle EFG and △EFE′\triangle EFE' have the same base EFEF and the same height, they have the same area. This yields
[BEGF]=[BEF]+[EFG]=[BEF]+[EFE′]=[BFE′]≥[BF′E′] [BEGF] = [BEF] + [EFG] = [BEF] + [EFE'] = [BFE'] \ge [BF'E']

The last inequality holds since △BFE′\triangle BFE' and △BF′E′\triangle BF'E' have the same base BEBE, but F′F' is closer to the sideline BE′BE' than FF. Equality holds when F=F′F = F', i.e. D=GD = G. Similarly, we have [CFGE]≥[CE′F′][CFGE] \ge [CE'F'], with equality D=GD = G. Thus, we have
[BEGF]+[CFGE]≥[BF′E′]+[CE′F′]=2[MF′E′]=[AE′F′] [BEGF] + [CFGE] \ge [BF'E'] + [CE'F'] = 2[MF'E'] = [AE'F']
since MM is the midpoint of BCBC and AG:GM=2:1AG : GM = 2 : 1. It suffices to prove [AE′F′]≥49[ABC][AE'F'] \ge \frac{4}{9}[ABC].

Figure 1

Figure 2

Let B′B' and C′C' be the points on ABAB and ACAC such that B′,G,C′B', G, C' are collinear and B′C′∥BCB'C' \parallel BC. As △AB′C′∼△ABC\triangle AB'C' \sim \triangle ABC with ratio 2:32:3, we have [AB′C′]=49[ABC][AB'C'] = \frac{4}{9}[ABC].
Therefore, it remains to show [AE′F′]≥[AB′C′][AE'F'] \ge [AB'C']. WLOG assume E′E' lies on the segment BB′BB' and F′F' lies on the segment AC′AC'. Then we only need to show [GB′E′]≥[GC′F′][GB'E'] \ge [GC'F']. Indeed, let PP be the symmetric point of F′F' in GG. Then △B′GP≅△C′GF′\triangle B'GP \cong \triangle C'GF', so that PP lies on the line F′GF'G. Also, PP must lie on the segment GE′GE' since
∠GPB′=∠GF′C′=∠F′E′A+∠E′AF′>∠PE′B′ \angle GPB' = \angle GF'C' = \angle F'E'A + \angle E'AF' > \angle PE'B'
It follows that [GB′E′]≥[GB′P]=[GC′F′][GB'E'] \ge [GB'P] = [GC'F'] as desired. Equality holds when E=B′E = B' and F=C′F = C', i.e. D=GD = G and EF∥BCEF \parallel BC.

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