Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 6.1 National olympiad Prove it

Example 1 The lengths of the three sides of a triangle are 6,8,106, 8, 10. Prove: there is only one line that bisects both the perimeter and the area of this triangle.

Solution

It is obvious that a triangle with side lengths of 6,8,106, 8, 10 is a right-angled triangle, with a perimeter of 24 and an area of 24 as well.

To prove that there is only one line that simultaneously bisects the perimeter and area of this triangle, we need to consider different scenarios of how this line intersects the sides of the triangle. Thus, the problem can be broken down into 4 sub-problems.
(1) When the line passes through a vertex of the triangle, can this line bisect both the perimeter and area of the triangle?
(2) When the line intersects the shorter leg and the hypotenuse, can this line bisect both the perimeter and area of the triangle?
(3) When the line intersects the longer leg and the hypotenuse, can this line bisect both the perimeter and area of the triangle?
(4) When the line intersects the two legs, can this line bisect both the perimeter and area of the triangle?
We will address these sub-problems one by one.
Let this triangle be ABC\triangle ABC, with C=90\angle C=90^{\circ}, AC=6AC=6, BC=8BC=8, and AB=10AB=10, and the line be ll.
(1) When the line ll passes through a vertex of ABC\triangle ABC, since any line passing through a vertex of a triangle and bisecting the area of the triangle must bisect the opposite side, it naturally cannot bisect the perimeter of the triangle. Therefore, this line does not meet the requirements of the problem.
(2) As shown in Figure 1, when the line ll intersects ABAB and ACAC at points SS and TT respectively, let CT=xCT=x (x>0)(x>0), then AT=6xAT=6-x. Clearly, the semi-perimeter is 12.

If the line ll bisects the perimeter and area of ABC\triangle ABC, then AS=6+xAS=6+x, and
12=SSSTT =12(6x)(6+x)sinA=12(36x2)810. \begin{array}{l} 12=S_{\text {SSTT }}=\frac{1}{2}(6-x)(6+x) \sin A \\ =\frac{1}{2}\left(36-x^{2}\right) \cdot \frac{8}{10} . \end{array}

Thus, we have x2=6x^{2}=6. Solving for xx gives x=6x=\sqrt{6}.
Hence, AT=66AT=6-\sqrt{6}, and AS=6+6AS=6+\sqrt{6}.
Therefore, the line STST meets the requirements of the problem.
(3) As shown in Figure 2, when the line ll intersects BCBC and BABA at points SS and TT respectively, if the line ll bisects the perimeter and area of ABC\triangle ABC, let BS=6xBS=6-x, then BT=6+xBT=6+x.
By the requirement of bisecting the area, we have
12=SBST=12(6x)(6+x)sinB=12(36x2)35. \begin{array}{l} 12=S_{\triangle B S T}=\frac{1}{2}(6-x)(6+x) \sin B \\ =\frac{1}{2}\left(36-x^{2}\right) \cdot \frac{3}{5} . \end{array}

Thus, we have x2=4x^{2}=-4.
Since the equation has no real solutions, such a line does not exist.
(4) As shown in Figure 3, when the line ll intersects CACA and CBCB at points SS and TT respectively, if the line ll bisects the perimeter and area of ABC\triangle ABC, let CS=6xCS=6-x, then CTCT
=6+x, and still have 12=ST=12(36x2). \begin{aligned} =6+x & \text {, and still have } \\ 12 & =S_{\triangle \triangle T}=\frac{1}{2}\left(36-x^{2}\right) . \end{aligned}

Solving for xx gives x=23x=2 \sqrt{3}.
At this point, CS=623CS=6-2 \sqrt{3}, and CT=6+23CT=6+2 \sqrt{3}.
However, CT=6+23>8=BCCT=6+2 \sqrt{3}>8=BC, so such a line does not exist.

In summary, only the line in scenario (2) exists, meaning there is only one line that simultaneously bisects the perimeter and area of this triangle.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.