One of the midlines of a triangle is longer than one of its medians. Prove that the triangle has an obtuse angle.
Problem 1365
Official solution
1. Understanding the Problem:
We need to prove that if one of the midlines of a triangle is longer than one of its medians, then the triangle must have an obtuse angle.
2. Definitions and Notations:
- A midline (or midsegment) of a triangle is a line segment connecting the midpoints of two sides of the triangle.
- A median of a triangle is a line segment joining a vertex to the midpoint of the opposite side.
- Let be a triangle with , , and as the midpoints of sides , , and respectively.
- Let , , and be the medians of the triangle.
3. Key Property of Midlines:
- The midline connecting the midpoints of two sides of a triangle is parallel to the third side and half its length. For example, and .
4. Key Property of Medians:
- The length of a median can be found using Apollonius's theorem, which states that for a triangle with median :
5. Proof by Contradiction:
- Assume the triangle is acute. This means all its angles are less than .
- For an acute triangle, it is known that any side is less than twice the length of any median. This can be shown using the properties of medians and the triangle inequality.
6. Using the Given Condition:
- Suppose one of the midlines, say , is longer than one of the medians, say .
- Since , the condition implies:
- Rearranging, we get:
7. Contradiction with Acute Triangle Property:
- For an acute triangle, we have:
- This contradicts our assumption that .
8. Conclusion:
- Since assuming the triangle is acute leads to a contradiction, the triangle must have an obtuse angle.