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Algebra Difficulty 7.3 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

Example 6 Let ABCDABCD be a convex quadrilateral with an inscribed circle, and each of its interior and exterior angles is not less than 6060^{\circ}. Prove: 13AB3\left.\frac{1}{3} \right\rvert\, AB^{3}- AD3BC3CD33AB3AD3AD^{3}|\leqslant| BC^{3}-CD^{3}|\leqslant 3| AB^{3}-AD^{3} \mid. When does equality hold? (33rd United States of America Mathematical Olympiad problem)

Solution

Prove using the cosine theorem, we know
BD2=AD2+AB22ADABcosDAB=CD2+BC22CDBCcosDCB\begin{aligned} B D^{2}= & A D^{2}+A B^{2}-2 A D \cdot A B \cos \angle D A B= \\ & C D^{2}+B C^{2}-2 C D \cdot B C \cos \angle D C B \end{aligned}

From the given conditions, we know 60DAB,DCB12060^{\circ} \leqslant \angle D A B, \angle D C B \leqslant 120^{\circ}, hence 12cosDAB12,12cosDCB12-\frac{1}{2} \leqslant \cos \angle D A B \leqslant \frac{1}{2}, -\frac{1}{2} \leqslant \cos \angle D C B \leqslant \frac{1}{2}, thus
3BD2(AB2+AD2+ABAD)=2(AB2+AD2)ABAD(1+6cosDAB)2(AB2+AD2)4ABAD=2(ABAD)20\begin{array}{l} 3 B D^{2}-\left(A B^{2}+A D^{2}+A B \cdot A D\right)= \\ 2\left(A B^{2}+A D^{2}\right)-A B \cdot A D(1+6 \cos \angle D A B) \geqslant \\ 2\left(A B^{2}+A D^{2}\right)-4 A B \cdot A D=2(A B-A D)^{2} \geqslant 0 \end{array}

Therefore,
13(AB2+AD2+ABAD)BD2=CD2+BC22CDBCcosDCBCD2+BC2+CDBC\begin{array}{l} \frac{1}{3}\left(A B^{2}+A D^{2}+A B \cdot A D\right) \leqslant \\ B D^{2}=C D^{2}+B C^{2}-2 C D \cdot B C \cos \angle D C B \leqslant \\ C D^{2}+B C^{2}+C D \cdot B C \end{array}

Since ABCDA B C D is a tangential quadrilateral, we know AD+BC=AB+CDA D+B C=A B+C D, so ABAD=CDBC|A B-A D| = |C D-B C|. Combining the above, we have 13+AB3AD3BC3CD3\left.\frac{1}{3}+A B^{3}-A D^{3}|\leqslant| B C^{3}-C D^{3} \right\rvert.

The equality holds if cosA=12;AB=AD;cosC=12\cos A=\frac{1}{2} ; A B=A D ; \cos C=-\frac{1}{2} or ABAD=CDBC=0|A B-A D| = |C D-B C|=0.

Therefore, the equality holds if AB=ADA B=A D and CD=BCC D=B C.
Similarly, we can prove the other inequality holds, with the same conditions for equality.

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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.