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Geometry Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Prove it

Let SS be the set of all triangles ABCABC for which
5(1AP+1BQ+1CR)3min{AP,BQ,CR}=6r,5 \left( \dfrac{1}{AP} + \dfrac{1}{BQ} + \dfrac{1}{CR} \right) - \dfrac{3}{\min\{ AP, BQ, CR \}} = \dfrac{6}{r},
where rr is the inradius and P,Q,RP, Q, R are the points of tangency of the incircle with sides AB,BC,CA,AB, BC, CA, respectively. Prove that all triangles in SS are isosceles and similar to one another.

Solution

We let x=AP=sa,y=BQ=sb,z=CR=scx = AP = s - a, y = BQ = s-b, z = CR = s-c, and without loss of generality let xyzx \le y \le z. Then x+y+z=3s(a+b+c)=sx + y + z = 3s - (a+b+c) = s, so r=As=(x+y+z)xyzx+y+z=xyzx+y+zr = \frac {A}{s} = \frac{\sqrt{(x+y+z)xyz}}{x+y+z} = \sqrt{\frac{xyz}{x+y+z}}. Thus,
6x+y+zxyz=2yz+5xy+5xzxyz6\sqrt{\frac{x+y+z}{xyz}} = \frac{2yz + 5xy + 5xz}{xyz}
Squaring and simplifying yields (after much grueling work)
0=4y2z2+25x2y2+25x2z216xy2z16xyz2+14x2yz0 = 4y^2z^2 + 25x^2y^2 + 25x^2z^2 - 16xy^2z - 16xyz^2 + 14x^2yz
We claim that the inequality
\begin{align}0 \le 4y^2z^2 + 25x^2y^2 + 25x^2z^2 - 16xy^2z - 16xyz^2 + 14x^2yz \tag{*} \end{align}
holds true, with equality iff 4x=y=z4x = y = z.

Note that ()(*) is homogeneous in x,y,zx,y,z, so without loss of generality, scale so that x=1x=1. Then
0y2(4z216z+25)+y(14z16z2)+25z20 \le y^2 (4z^2 - 16z + 25) + y(14z - 16z^2) + 25z^2
which is a quadratic in yy. As 4z216z+25=4(z4)2+904z^2 - 16z + 25 = 4(z-4)^2 + 9 \ge 0, it suffices to show that the quadratic cannot have more than one root, or the discriminant Δ0\Delta \le 0. Then,
Δ=z2(1416z)24(4z216z+25)(25z2)=144(z4)20\Delta = z^2(14-16z)^2 - 4(4z^2 - 16z + 25)(25z^2) = -144(z-4)^2 \le 0
as desired. Equality comes when z=4z = 4; since ()(*) is symmetric in yy and zz, it follows that y=4y = 4 is also necessary for equality. Reversing our scaling, it follows that x:y:z=1:4:4x:y:z = 1:4:4.
Then s=x+y+z=9xs = x+y+z = 9x, and sa=x,sb=4x,sc=4xs-a = x, s-b = 4x, s-c = 4x yields a:b:c=8:5:5a:b:c = 8:5:5. Thus, we have proved that all possible ABC are isosceles (as b = c), and that they are similar to a 5-5-8 triangle.
\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.