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Geometry Difficulty 4.5 AIME Prove it

If the three angles of a triangle form an arithmetic progression, then one of the angles must be 60°; if the sides of such a triangle are in geometric progression, prove that all three angles are 60°.

Solution

Let's consider a triangle ABCABC with angles AA, BB, and CC. By the given condition that the angles form an arithmetic progression, we can write the following relation:
2B=A+C. 2B = A + C.

By knowing that the sum of interior angles in any triangle is 180°, we have:
A+B+C=180°. A + B + C = 180°.

Substituting 2B2B for A+CA + C from the arithmetic progression condition into this equation, we get:
A+2B+C=180°2B+2B=180°4B=180°B=180°4B=45°. A + 2B + C = 180° \\ 2B + 2B = 180° \\ 4B = 180° \\ B = \dfrac{180°}{4} \\ B = 45°.

This is incorrect as BB should be 60° based on the premise of the problem. It seems there has been a mistake in the translation or interpretation of the initial solution.

Let's attempt to correct this:

From 2B=A+C2B = A + C and knowing that A,B,A, B, and CC are in an arithmetic progression, we have:
BA=CB. B - A = C - B.
By substitution, this becomes:
BA=C(180°AC)BA=C180°+A+C2B=2A+2C180°2B=180°B=90°. B - A = C - (180° - A - C) \\ B - A = C - 180° + A + C \\ 2B = 2A + 2C - 180° \\ 2B = 180° \\ B = 90°.

This must be revisited as we know no angle in a triangle can be 90° given the other two angles must also have nonzero values. Let's correct the arithmetic accordingly.

Combining the arithmetic progression relationship and the sum of angles, we have:
BA=CB and A+B+C=180°. B-A = C-B \text{ and } A+B+C=180°.
Adding these two equations, we get:
A+2B+C=2B+180°2A+2C=180°. A+2B+C=2B+180° \\ 2A+2C=180°.

Dividing this equation by 2, we find that:
A+C=90°. A+C=90°.

Substituting it back to our arithmetic progression relation, we get:
2B=A+C=90°, 2B=A+C=90°,
and therefore,
B=90°2=45°, B = \dfrac{90°}{2} = 45°,

which is also incorrect as it conflicts with the given statement that one of the angles is 60°.

The correct approach should be to use the arithmetic progression relations directly. If the angles are in arithmetic progression, say A=BxA = B - x and C=B+xC = B + x for some common difference xx. So we have:
A+B+C=(Bx)+B+(B+x)=3B=180°, A + B + C = (B - x) + B + (B + x) = 3B = 180°,
resulting in the conclusion that:
B=180°3=60°. B = \frac{180°}{3} = 60°.
This asserts that angle BB is 60°.

Now let's consider the geometric progression of sides. Let the sides of the triangle ABCABC opposite to the angles AA, BB, and CC be aa, bb, and cc, respectively, in geometric progression. This implies:
ab=bc    b2=ac. \frac{a}{b} = \frac{b}{c} \implies b^2 = ac.

Using the law of cosines for angle BB, we have:
b2=a2+c22accos(B), b^2 = a^2 + c^2 - 2ac\cos(B),
and since we have established B=60°B = 60°, and cos(60°)=12\cos(60°) = \frac{1}{2}, the equation simplifies to:
b2=a2+c2ac. b^2 = a^2 + c^2 - ac.

From the condition of geometric progression b2=acb^2 = ac, and replacing it in the above equation, we get:
ac=a2+c2ac, ac = a^2 + c^2 - ac,
and this simplifies to:
0=a22ac+c2=(ac)2. 0 = a^2 - 2ac + c^2 = (a - c)^2.

Therefore, we have ac=0a - c = 0, meaning a=ca = c. Since we have a=ca = c and angle BB is 60°, by the properties of triangles, we can conclude that:
A=C=60°. A = C = 60°.

Thus, triangle ABCABC is equilateral, and all of its angles are 60°. We can state our final result as:
A=B=C=60°. \boxed{A = B = C = 60°}.

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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.