Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Prove it

2. (HUN) If a,ba, b, and cc are the sides and α,β\alpha, \beta, and γ\gamma the respective angles of the triangle for which a+b=tanγ2(atanα+btanβ)a+b=\tan \frac{\gamma}{2}(a \tan \alpha+b \tan \beta), prove that the triangle is isosceles.

Solution

2. Angles α\alpha and β\beta are less than 9090^{\circ}, otherwise if w.l.o.g. α90\alpha \geq 90^{\circ} we have tan(γ/2)(atanα+btanβ)<btan(γ/2)tanβbtan(γ/2)cot(γ/2)=\tan (\gamma / 2) \cdot(a \tan \alpha+b \tan \beta)<b \tan (\gamma / 2) \tan \beta \leq b \tan (\gamma / 2) \cot (\gamma / 2)= b<a+bb<a+b. Since abtanatanba \geq b \Leftrightarrow \tan a \geq \tan b, Chebyshev's inequality gives atanα+btanβ(a+b)(tanα+tanβ)/2a \tan \alpha+b \tan \beta \geq(a+b)(\tan \alpha+\tan \beta) / 2. Due to the convexity of the tan\tan function we also have (tanα+tanβ)/2tan[(α+β)/2]=cot(γ/2)(\tan \alpha+\tan \beta) / 2 \geq \tan [(\alpha+\beta) / 2]=\cot (\gamma / 2). Hence we have
tanγ2(atanα+btanβ)12tanγ2(a+b)(tanα+tanβ)tanγ2(a+b)cotγ2=a+b \begin{aligned} \tan \frac{\gamma}{2}(a \tan \alpha+b \tan \beta) & \geq \frac{1}{2} \tan \frac{\gamma}{2}(a+b)(\tan \alpha+\tan \beta) \\ & \geq \tan \frac{\gamma}{2}(a+b) \cot \frac{\gamma}{2}=a+b \end{aligned}
The equalities can hold only if a=ba=b. Thus the triangle is isosceles.

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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.