Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it

In a right-angled triangle, the sides are consecutive elements of an arithmetic sequence. Determine the ratio of the sides. Prove that the radius of the inscribed circle is the common difference of the arithmetic sequence.

Solution

Solution. Let the difference of the arithmetic sequence formed by the sides of the triangle be dd, and the sides of the triangle be: BC=aBC=a, AC=adAC=a-d, and AB=a+dAB=a+d, where d>0d>0.

!

According to the Pythagorean theorem:

(ad)2+a2=(a+d)2a22ad+d2+a2=a2+2ad+d2a24ad=0a(a4d)=0 \begin{aligned} (a-d)^{2}+a^{2} & =(a+d)^{2} \\ a^{2}-2 a d+d^{2}+a^{2} & =a^{2}+2 a d+d^{2} \\ a^{2}-4 a d & =0 \\ a(a-4 d) & =0 \end{aligned}

This is only possible if a=0a=0 or if a4d=0a-4 d=0.

aa cannot be 0, as it is the length of one side of the triangle; thus, a=4da=4 d. Therefore, the lengths of the sides are: BC=a=4dBC=a=4 d, AC=ad=3dAC=a-d=3 d, and AB=a+d=5dAB=a+d=5 d.

Thus, the ratio of the sides is: AC:BC:AB=3:4:5AC: BC: AB=3: 4: 5.

Let the radius of the inscribed circle be rr, and a+b+c2=s\frac{a+b+c}{2}=s. We can write the area of the triangle in two ways:

t=rs=r3d+4d+5d2=6rd, and t=3d4d2=6d2 t=r \cdot s=r \cdot \frac{3 d+4 d+5 d}{2}=6 r d, \quad \text { and } \quad t=\frac{3 d \cdot 4 d}{2}=6 d^{2}

Since 6rd=6d26 r d=6 d^{2}, it follows that r=dr=d.

This proves that the radius of the inscribed circle is equal to the difference of the arithmetic sequence, and the ratio of the sides is 3:4:53: 4: 5.

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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.