Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 7.2 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

Let ABCABC be a triangle with its centroid GG. Let DD and EE be points on segments ABAB and ACAC, respectively, such that,
ABAD+ACAE=3.\frac{AB}{AD}+\frac{AC}{AE}=3.
Prove that the points D,GD, G and EE are collinear.

Proposed by Dorlir Ahmeti, Kosovo

Solution

1. Given Condition and Initial Setup:
We are given a triangle ABCABC with centroid GG. Points DD and EE lie on segments ABAB and ACAC respectively, such that:
ABAD+ACAE=3 \frac{AB}{AD} + \frac{AC}{AE} = 3
We need to prove that points DD, GG, and EE are collinear.

2. Rewriting the Given Condition:
The given condition can be rewritten as:
ABAD+ACAE=3 \frac{AB}{AD} + \frac{AC}{AE} = 3
This implies:
ABAE+ACAD=3ADAE AB \cdot AE + AC \cdot AD = 3 \cdot AD \cdot AE

3. Area Interpretation:
Multiplying both sides by 12sinCAB\frac{1}{2} \sin \angle CAB, we get:
12ABAEsinCAB+12ACADsinCAB=32ADAEsinCAB \frac{1}{2} AB \cdot AE \sin \angle CAB + \frac{1}{2} AC \cdot AD \sin \angle CAB = \frac{3}{2} AD \cdot AE \sin \angle CAB
This can be interpreted as:
[ADC]+[AEB]=3[ADE] [\triangle ADC] + [\triangle AEB] = 3 [\triangle ADE]
where [XYZ][ \triangle XYZ ] denotes the area of triangle XYZXYZ.

4. Area Relationship:
Since [ADC]+[AEB]=3[ADE][\triangle ADC] + [\triangle AEB] = 3 [\triangle ADE], we can further deduce:
[EDC]+[EDB]=[ADE] [\triangle EDC] + [\triangle EDB] = [\triangle ADE]
This implies that the sum of the areas of EDC\triangle EDC and EDB\triangle EDB equals the area of ADE\triangle ADE.

5. Base and Height Consideration:
Since these triangles share the same base DEDE, we can consider the heights from points BB, CC, and AA to line DEDE. Let RR be the foot of the perpendicular from CC to DEDE, SS be the foot of the perpendicular from BB to DEDE, and TT be the foot of the perpendicular from AA to DEDE.

6. Height Relationship:
Given the area relationship, we have:
CR+BS=TA CR + BS = TA
Since BCRSBCRS forms a right trapezoid and MM is the midpoint of BCBC, we have:
UM=CR+BS2 UM = \frac{CR + BS}{2}
and thus:
UM=2TA UM = 2 \cdot TA

7. Triangles Similarity:
Consider triangles UGM\triangle UG'M and TGA\triangle TG'A, where G=UTAMG' = UT \cap AM. Since MUG=ATG=90\angle MUG' = \angle ATG' = 90^\circ and UGM=TGA\angle UG'M = \angle TG'A, we have:
UGMTGA \triangle UG'M \sim \triangle TG'A
Therefore:
UMTA=MGAG=GUGT=12 \frac{UM}{TA} = \frac{MG'}{AG'} = \frac{G'U}{G'T} = \frac{1}{2}
Hence, G=GG' = G because the centroid GG bisects the median into two segments with a ratio of 2:12:1.

8. Conclusion:
Since GG' lies on UTUT and UU and TT are on line DEDE, we conclude that DD, GG, and EE are collinear.

\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.