Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 7 / 103 of 300 #1503 of 1964

Problem 1503

National olympiad second round; IMO P1/P4
Geometry Difficulty 7.2 Prove it

Let SS be a non-empty subset of a plane. We say that the point PP can be seen from AA if every point from the line segment APAP belongs to SS. Further, the set SS can be seen from AA if every point of SS can be seen from AA. Suppose that SS can be seen from AA, BB and CC where ABCABC is a triangle. Prove that SS can also be seen from any other point of the triangle ABCABC.

This one wants a proof. Work it on paper, then read the official solution and mark yourself. Be honest about it: the record is only any use to you if it is.

Official solution

1. Restate the problem in terms of line segments and visibility:
- We need to show that if a set S S can be seen from points A A , B B , and C C of a triangle ABC ABC , then S S can be seen from any point within the triangle ABC ABC .

2. **Consider a point D D on the line segment AB AB :**
- We will first show that if S S can be seen from A A and B B , then it can be seen from any point D D on AB AB .

3. **Choose an arbitrary point P P in S S :**
- Since S S can be seen from A A , every point on the line segment AP AP is in S S .
- Similarly, since S S can be seen from B B , every point on the line segment BP BP is in S S .

4. **Consider any point Q Q on the line segment AP AP :**
- Since Q Q is on AP AP and APS AP \subseteq S , QS Q \in S .
- Now consider the line segment BQ BQ . Since S S can be seen from B B , every point on BQ BQ is in S S .

5. **Show that S S can be seen from D D :**
- Let D D be any point on AB AB . We need to show that every point on the line segment DP DP is in S S .
- Since D D is on AB AB , it can be expressed as a convex combination of A A and B B , i.e., D=λA+(1λ)B D = \lambda A + (1 - \lambda) B for some λ[0,1] \lambda \in [0, 1] .

6. Use the convex combination property:
- Consider any point R R on the line segment DP DP . R R can be expressed as R=μD+(1μ)P R = \mu D + (1 - \mu) P for some μ[0,1] \mu \in [0, 1] .
- Substituting D=λA+(1λ)B D = \lambda A + (1 - \lambda) B into the expression for R R , we get:
R=μ(λA+(1λ)B)+(1μ)P R = \mu (\lambda A + (1 - \lambda) B) + (1 - \mu) P
R=μλA+μ(1λ)B+(1μ)P R = \mu \lambda A + \mu (1 - \lambda) B + (1 - \mu) P
- Since A A , B B , and P P are all points from which S S can be seen, and S S is convex, R R must also be in S S .

7. **Generalize to any point within the triangle ABC ABC :**
- By the same argument, any point on the line segment CD CD can see S S because S S can be seen from C C and D D .
- Therefore, any point within the triangle ABC ABC can see S S because it can be expressed as a convex combination of points from which S S can be seen.

\blacksquare

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic, difficulty and ordering added by this site.