Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 6.9 National Olympiad Prove it Canada

Problem:
Let ABCABC be a triangle with circumradius RR, perimeter PP and area KK. Determine the maximum value of KP/R3K P / R^{3}.

Solution

Solution:
Since similar triangles give the same value of KP/R3K P / R^{3}, we can fix R=1R=1 and maximize KPK P over all triangles inscribed in the unit circle. Fix points AA and BB on the unit circle. The locus of points CC with a given perimeter PP is an ellipse that meets the circle in at most four points. The area KK is maximized (for a fixed PP) when CC is chosen on the perpendicular bisector of ABAB, so we get a maximum value for KPK P if CC is where the perpendicular bisector of ABAB meets the circle. Thus the maximum value of KPK P for a given ABAB occurs when ABCABC is an isosceles triangle. Repeating this argument with BCBC fixed, we have that the maximum occurs when ABCABC is an equilateral triangle.

Consider an equilateral triangle with side length aa. It has P=3aP=3a. It has height equal to a3/2a \sqrt{3} / 2 giving K=a23/4K = a^{2} \sqrt{3} / 4. From the extended law of sines, 2R=a/sin(60)2R = a / \sin(60^{\circ}) giving R=a/3R = a / \sqrt{3}. Therefore the maximum value we seek is
KP/R3=(a234)(3a)(3a)3=274. K P / R^{3} = \left(\frac{a^{2} \sqrt{3}}{4}\right)(3a)\left(\frac{\sqrt{3}}{a}\right)^{3} = \frac{27}{4}.

From the extended law of sines, the lengths of the sides of the triangle are 2RsinA2R \sin A, 2RsinB2R \sin B and 2RsinC2R \sin C. So
P=2R(sinA+sinB+sinC) and K=12(2RsinA)(2RsinB)(sinC), P = 2R(\sin A + \sin B + \sin C) \text{ and } K = \frac{1}{2}(2R \sin A)(2R \sin B)(\sin C),
giving
KPR3=4sinAsinBsinC(sinA+sinB+sinC) \frac{K P}{R^{3}} = 4 \sin A \sin B \sin C (\sin A + \sin B + \sin C)
We wish to find the maximum value of this expression over all A+B+C=180A+B+C=180^{\circ}. Using well-known identities for sums and products of sine functions, we can write
KPR3=4sinA(cos(BC)2cos(B+C)2)(sinA+2sin(B+C2)cos(BC2)). \frac{K P}{R^{3}} = 4 \sin A \left(\frac{\cos(B-C)}{2} - \frac{\cos(B+C)}{2}\right) \left(\sin A + 2 \sin\left(\frac{B+C}{2}\right) \cos\left(\frac{B-C}{2}\right)\right).
If we first consider AA to be fixed, then B+CB+C is fixed also and this expression takes its maximum value when cos(BC)\cos(B-C) and cos(BC2)\cos\left(\frac{B-C}{2}\right) equal 11; i.e. when B=CB=C. In a similar way, one can show that for any fixed value of BB, KP/R3K P / R^{3} is maximized when A=CA=C. Therefore the maximum value of KP/R3K P / R^{3} occurs when A=B=C=60A=B=C=60^{\circ}, and it is now an easy task to substitute this into the above expression to obtain the maximum value of 27/427/4.

As in Solution 2, we obtain
KPR3=4sinAsinBsinC(sinA+sinB+sinC) \frac{K P}{R^{3}} = 4 \sin A \sin B \sin C (\sin A + \sin B + \sin C)
From the AM-GM inequality, we have
sinAsinBsinC(sinA+sinB+sinC3)3, \sin A \sin B \sin C \leq \left(\frac{\sin A + \sin B + \sin C}{3}\right)^{3},
giving
KPR3427(sinA+sinB+sinC)4 \frac{K P}{R^{3}} \leq \frac{4}{27}(\sin A + \sin B + \sin C)^{4}
with equality when sinA=sinB=sinC\sin A = \sin B = \sin C. Since the sine function is concave on the interval from 00 to π\pi, Jensen's inequality gives
sinA+sinB+sinC3sin(A+B+C3)=sinπ3=32. \frac{\sin A + \sin B + \sin C}{3} \leq \sin\left(\frac{A+B+C}{3}\right) = \sin \frac{\pi}{3} = \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}.
Since equality occurs here when sinA=sinB=sinC\sin A = \sin B = \sin C also, we can conclude that the maximum value of KP/R3K P / R^{3} is 427(332)4=27/4\frac{4}{27}\left(\frac{3 \sqrt{3}}{2}\right)^{4} = 27/4.

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