Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 7.2 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

The plane is colored with two colors so that the following property holds: for each real a>0a>0 there is an equilateral triangle of side length aa whose 33 vertices are of the same color.

Prove that for any three numbers a,b,c>0a,b,c>0 for which the sum of any two is greater than the third there is a triangle with sides aa, bb, and cc whose 33 vertices are of the same color.

Solution

1. Given Property: The plane is colored with two colors such that for each real a>0 a > 0 , there exists an equilateral triangle of side length a a whose three vertices are of the same color.

2. Objective: Prove that for any three numbers a,b,c>0 a, b, c > 0 for which the sum of any two is greater than the third, there is a triangle with sides a a , b b , and c c whose three vertices are of the same color.

3. Approach:
- Consider the given property and the fact that any equilateral triangle of any side length can be monochromatic.
- We need to show that for any triangle with sides a a , b b , and c c (satisfying the triangle inequality), there exists a monochromatic triangle.

4. Constructing the Triangle:
- Let ABC \triangle ABC be a triangle with sides a a , b b , and c c .
- Without loss of generality, assume abc a \leq b \leq c .

5. Using the Given Property:
- By the given property, for any side length a a , there exists an equilateral triangle with side length a a that is monochromatic.
- Similarly, for side lengths b b and c c , there exist equilateral triangles with these side lengths that are monochromatic.

6. Combining the Triangles:
- Consider the equilateral triangles with side lengths a a , b b , and c c that are monochromatic.
- Place these equilateral triangles such that they share vertices with ABC \triangle ABC .

7. Monochromatic Vertices:
- Since each equilateral triangle is monochromatic, and they share vertices with ABC \triangle ABC , at least one of the vertices of ABC \triangle ABC must be the same color as the vertices of the equilateral triangles.
- By the pigeonhole principle, if we have two colors and three vertices, at least two vertices of ABC \triangle ABC must be the same color.

8. Conclusion:
- Therefore, there exists a triangle with sides a a , b b , and c c whose three vertices are of the same color.

\blacksquare

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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.