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Geometry Difficulty 6.6 National olympiad Find the answer

Let A,B,CA', B' , C' be the projections of a point MM inside a triangle ABCABC onto the sides BC,CA,ABBC, CA, AB, respectively. Define p(M)=MAMBMCMAMBMCp(M ) = \frac{MA'\cdot MB'\cdot MC'}{MA \cdot MB \cdot MC} . Find the position of point MM that maximizes p(M)p(M ).

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

1. Let A,B,C A', B', C' be the projections of a point M M inside a triangle ABC ABC onto the sides BC,CA,AB BC, CA, AB , respectively. Define MA=da MA' = d_a , MB=db MB' = d_b , MC=dc MC' = d_c , MAB=αc \angle MAB = \alpha_c , and MAC=αb \angle MAC = \alpha_b .

2. We need to find the position of point M M that maximizes p(M)=MAMBMCMAMBMC p(M) = \frac{MA' \cdot MB' \cdot MC'}{MA \cdot MB \cdot MC} .

3. Consider the product MBMC MB \cdot MC . Using the Law of Sines in triangle MBC MBC , we have:
MBMC=dbdcsinαcsinαb MB \cdot MC = \frac{d_b d_c}{\sin \alpha_c \sin \alpha_b}

4. Using the trigonometric identity for the product of sines, we get:
sinαcsinαb=12[cos(αcαb)cos(αc+αb)] \sin \alpha_c \sin \alpha_b = \frac{1}{2} [\cos(\alpha_c - \alpha_b) - \cos(\alpha_c + \alpha_b)]

5. Since cos(αc+αb)1 \cos(\alpha_c + \alpha_b) \leq 1 , we have:
cos(αcαb)cos(αc+αb)cos(αcαb)1 \cos(\alpha_c - \alpha_b) - \cos(\alpha_c + \alpha_b) \geq \cos(\alpha_c - \alpha_b) - 1

6. Therefore:
MBMC2dbdc1cosA=dbdcsin2A2 MB \cdot MC \geq \frac{2 d_b d_c}{1 - \cos A} = \frac{d_b d_c}{\sin^2 \frac{A}{2}}

7. Similarly, we can derive:
MCMAdcdasin2B2 MC \cdot MA \geq \frac{d_c d_a}{\sin^2 \frac{B}{2}}
MAMBdadbsin2C2 MA \cdot MB \geq \frac{d_a d_b}{\sin^2 \frac{C}{2}}

8. Multiplying these inequalities together and taking the square root, we get:
dadbdcMAMBMCsinA2sinB2sinC2 \frac{d_a d_b d_c}{MA \cdot MB \cdot MC} \leq \sin \frac{A}{2} \sin \frac{B}{2} \sin \frac{C}{2}

9. Equality holds if and only if MI M \equiv I , the incenter of ABC \triangle ABC .

The final answer is MI \boxed{ M \equiv I } , the incenter of ABC \triangle ABC .

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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.