Problem:
The lines , , and are the three medians of a triangle with perimeter . Find the length of the longest side of the triangle.
, 2013
Solution
Solution:
The three medians of a triangle contain its vertices, so the three vertices of the triangle are , , and for some , , and . Then, the midpoint of and , which is , must lie along the line . Therefore,
Similarly, the midpoint of and , which is , must lie along the line . Therefore,
From this, three points can be represented as , , and . Using the distance formula, the three side lengths of the triangle are , , and . Since the perimeter of the triangle is , we find that and therefore the longest side length is .
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