Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /1274 of 1394

Geometry Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Let ww, xx, yy, and zz be positive real numbers such that
0coswcosxcosycosz2π=w+x+y+z3tanw=k(1+secw)4tanx=k(1+secx)5tany=k(1+secy)6tanz=k(1+secz) \begin{aligned} 0 & \neq \cos w \cos x \cos y \cos z \\ 2 \pi & = w + x + y + z \\ 3 \tan w & = k(1 + \sec w) \\ 4 \tan x & = k(1 + \sec x) \\ 5 \tan y & = k(1 + \sec y) \\ 6 \tan z & = k(1 + \sec z) \end{aligned}
(Here sect\sec t denotes 1cost\frac{1}{\cos t} when cost0\cos t \neq 0.) Find kk.

Solution

Solution:
Answer: 19\sqrt{19}

From the identity tanu2=sinu1+cosu\tan \frac{u}{2} = \frac{\sin u}{1 + \cos u}, the conditions work out to 3tanw2=4tanx2=5tany2=6tanz2=k3 \tan \frac{w}{2} = 4 \tan \frac{x}{2} = 5 \tan \frac{y}{2} = 6 \tan \frac{z}{2} = k. Let a=tanw2a = \tan \frac{w}{2}, b=tanx2b = \tan \frac{x}{2}, c=tany2c = \tan \frac{y}{2}, and d=tanz2d = \tan \frac{z}{2}. Using the identity tan(M+N)=tanM+tanN1tanMtanN\tan (M + N) = \frac{\tan M + \tan N}{1 - \tan M \tan N}, we obtain
tan(w+x2+y+z2)=tan(w+x2)+tan(y+z2)1tan(w+x2)tan(y+z2)=a+b1ab+c+d1cd1(a+b1ab)(c+d1cd)=a+b+c+dabcabdbcdacd1+abcdabacadbcbdcd \begin{aligned} \tan \left(\frac{w + x}{2} + \frac{y + z}{2}\right) & = \frac{\tan \left(\frac{w + x}{2}\right) + \tan \left(\frac{y + z}{2}\right)}{1 - \tan \left(\frac{w + x}{2}\right) \tan \left(\frac{y + z}{2}\right)} \\ & = \frac{\frac{a + b}{1 - a b} + \frac{c + d}{1 - c d}}{1 - \left(\frac{a + b}{1 - a b}\right)\left(\frac{c + d}{1 - c d}\right)} \\ & = \frac{a + b + c + d - a b c - a b d - b c d - a c d}{1 + a b c d - a b - a c - a d - b c - b d - c d} \end{aligned}
Because x+y+z+w=2πx + y + z + w = 2\pi, we get that tan(x+y+z+w2)=0\tan \left(\frac{x + y + z + w}{2}\right) = 0 and thus a+b+c+d=abc+abd+bcd+acda + b + c + d = a b c + a b d + b c d + a c d. Substituting a,b,c,da, b, c, d corresponding to the variable kk, we obtain that k319k=0k^{3} - 19 k = 0. Therefore, kk can be only 00, 19\sqrt{19}, 19-\sqrt{19}. However, k=0k = 0 is impossible as w,x,y,zw, x, y, z will all be 00. Also, k=19k = -\sqrt{19} is impossible as w,x,y,zw, x, y, z will exceed π\pi. Therefore, k=19k = \sqrt{19}.

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.