Problem: Let ABC be a triangle with circumradius R, perimeter P and area K. Determine the maximum value of KP/R3.
Solution
Solution: Since similar triangles give the same value of KP/R3, we can fix R=1 and maximize KP over all triangles inscribed in the unit circle. Fix points A and B on the unit circle. The locus of points C with a given perimeter P is an ellipse that meets the circle in at most four points. The area K is maximized (for a fixed P) when C is chosen on the perpendicular bisector of AB, so we get a maximum value for KP if C is where the perpendicular bisector of AB meets the circle. Thus the maximum value of KP for a given AB occurs when ABC is an isosceles triangle. Repeating this argument with BC fixed, we have that the maximum occurs when ABC is an equilateral triangle.
Consider an equilateral triangle with side length a. It has P=3a. It has height equal to a3/2 giving K=a23/4. From the extended law of sines, 2R=a/sin(60∘) giving R=a/3. Therefore the maximum value we seek is KP/R3=(4a23)(3a)(a3)3=427.
From the extended law of sines, the lengths of the sides of the triangle are 2RsinA, 2RsinB and 2RsinC. So P=2R(sinA+sinB+sinC) and K=21(2RsinA)(2RsinB)(sinC), giving R3KP=4sinAsinBsinC(sinA+sinB+sinC) We wish to find the maximum value of this expression over all A+B+C=180∘. Using well-known identities for sums and products of sine functions, we can write R3KP=4sinA(2cos(B−C)−2cos(B+C))(sinA+2sin(2B+C)cos(2B−C)). If we first consider A to be fixed, then B+C is fixed also and this expression takes its maximum value when cos(B−C) and cos(2B−C) equal 1; i.e. when B=C. In a similar way, one can show that for any fixed value of B, KP/R3 is maximized when A=C. Therefore the maximum value of KP/R3 occurs when A=B=C=60∘, and it is now an easy task to substitute this into the above expression to obtain the maximum value of 27/4.
As in Solution 2, we obtain R3KP=4sinAsinBsinC(sinA+sinB+sinC) From the AM-GM inequality, we have sinAsinBsinC≤(3sinA+sinB+sinC)3, giving R3KP≤274(sinA+sinB+sinC)4 with equality when sinA=sinB=sinC. Since the sine function is concave on the interval from 0 to π, Jensen's inequality gives 3sinA+sinB+sinC≤sin(3A+B+C)=sin3π=23. Since equality occurs here when sinA=sinB=sinC also, we can conclude that the maximum value of KP/R3 is 274(233)4=27/4.
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.
Source: MathNet,
licensed CC-BY-4.0.
Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.