The Mosers' spindle is a seven point configuration in the plane in which ABC, BCD, AEF and EFG are equilateral triangles with side length 1. The points A, B, D, G, F form a convex pentagon with ∣DG∣=1. Determine which of the angles, ∠BAF or ∠BDG, is bigger.
Solution
Connect A to D and G. Because △ABC and △BCD are equilateral, ∠BAD=∠BDA=30∘ and ∣AD∣=3. Similarly, ∠GAF=30∘ and ∣AG∣=3. We now have ∠BDG=∠BDA+∠ADG=30∘+∠ADG
and ∠BAF=∠BAD+∠DAG+∠GAF=60∘+∠DAG. We will show that ∠BDG>∠BAF by proving cos(∠ADG)<cos(30∘+∠DAG). Letting H be the midpoint of DG and using triangle ADH we find cos(∠ADG)=∣DA∣∣DH∣=231=1223.
Because cos(30∘+∠DAG)=cos(30∘)cos(∠DAG)−sin(30∘)sin(∠DAG), we next wish to find cos(∠DAG) and sin(∠DAG). The Cosine Rule for
△ADG yields cos(∠DAG)=5/6. Because ∠DAG<180∘, this implies sin(∠DAG)=11/6. Hence cos(30∘+∠DAG)=23⋅65−21⋅611=1253−11. To prove 23<53−11 we rewrite this as 11<33 and then square. This shows that cos(∠ADG)<cos(30∘+∠DAG), which means that ∠ADG>30∘+∠DAG, and so ∠BDG>∠BAF.
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Source: MathNet,
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