Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Bulgaria

Problem:
Find all triangles ABCABC with integer sidelengths such that the side ACAC is equal to the bisector of BAC\angle BAC and the perimeter of ABC\triangle ABC is equal to 10p10p, where pp is a prime number.

Solution

Solution:
Using the standard notation for the elements of ABC\triangle ABC we have b2=la2=bca2bc(b+c)2b^{2} = l_{a}^{2} = bc - \frac{a^{2}bc}{(b+c)^{2}}. Hence
a2c=(cb)(c+b)2 a^{2}c = (c-b)(c+b)^{2}
Let ac=mn, (m,n)=1\frac{a}{c} = \frac{m}{n},\ (m, n) = 1, and bc=rs, (r,s)=1\frac{b}{c} = \frac{r}{s},\ (r, s) = 1. Then (1) implies that
m2n2=(sr)(s+r)2s3 \frac{m^{2}}{n^{2}} = \frac{(s-r)(s+r)^{2}}{s^{3}}
Since both sides are irreducible fractions, we obtain m2=(sr)(s+r)2m^{2} = (s-r)(s+r)^{2} and n2=s3n^{2} = s^{3}. The first equality shows that srs-r is a perfect square and the second one implies that ss is a perfect square. Set s=t2s = t^{2} and sr=k2s-r = k^{2}. Then r=t2k2r = t^{2} - k^{2}, m=k(2t2k2)m = k\left(2t^{2} - k^{2}\right) and n=t3n = t^{3}.

We now set a=mxa = mx, c=nxc = nx, b=ryb = ry and c=syc = sy. Then nx=synx = sy, i.e. y=txy = tx. Therefore a=xk(2t2k2)a = xk\left(2t^{2} - k^{2}\right), b=xt(t2k2)b = x t\left(t^{2} - k^{2}\right) and c=xt3c = x t^{3}, where t>kt > k and (t,k)=1(t, k) = 1. Moreover, one can easily check that these a,ba, b and cc satisfy the triangle inequality.

Now the condition a+b+c=10pa + b + c = 10p becomes x(k+t)(2t2k2)=10px(k + t)\left(2t^{2} - k^{2}\right) = 10p. Note that (k+t,2t2k2)=1\left(k + t, 2t^{2} - k^{2}\right) = 1. Then it is easy to see that we have only the following possibilities:
x=1k+t=52t2k2=2p,x=1k+t=102t2k2=p,x=2k+t=52t2k2=p \begin{array}{l|l|l} x = 1 \\ k + t = 5 \\ 2t^{2} - k^{2} = 2p \end{array}, \quad \begin{aligned} & x = 1 \\ & k + t = 10 \\ & 2t^{2} - k^{2} = p \end{aligned}, \quad \begin{aligned} & x = 2 \\ & k + t = 5 \\ & 2t^{2} - k^{2} = p \end{aligned}
A direct verification shows that (x,k,t)=(1,2,3)(x, k, t) = (1, 2, 3), (x,k,t)=(1,3,7)(x, k, t) = (1, 3, 7) and (x,k,t)=(2,1,4)(x, k, t) = (2, 1, 4). Therefore (a,b,c)=(28,15,27)(a, b, c) = (28, 15, 27), (a,b,c)=(267,280,343)(a, b, c) = (267, 280, 343) and (a,b,c)=(62,120,128)(a, b, c) = (62, 120, 128).

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