Thursday, November 24, 2011

question 8

Problem was this:

In the interior of triangle P_1P_2P_3 a point P is given. Let Q_1,Q_2,Q_3 be the intersections of PP_1, PP_2,PP_3 with the opposing edges of triangle P_1P_2P_3. Prove that among the ratios \frac{PP_1}{PQ_1},\frac{PP_2}{PQ_2},\frac{PP_3}{PQ_3} there exists one not larger than 2 and one not smaller than 2.

Solution

Since triangles P_1P_2P_3 and PP_2P_3 share the base P_2Q_2, we have \frac{[PP_2P_3]}{[P_1P_2P_3]}=\frac{P_1Q_1}{PQ_1}, where [ABC] denotes the area of triangle ABC. Similarly, \frac{[PP_1P_3]}{[P_1P_2P_3]}=\frac{P_2Q_2}{PQ_2}, \frac{[PP_1P_2]}{[P_1P_2P_3]}=\frac{P_3Q_3}{PQ_3}. Adding all of these gives \frac{[PP_1P_3]}{[P_1P_2P_3]}+\frac{[PP_1P_2]}{[P_1P_2P_3]}+\frac{[PP_2P_3]}{[P_1P_2P_3]}=\frac{P_2Q_2}{PQ_2}+\frac{P_3Q_3}{P..., or \frac{P_2Q_2}{PQ_2}+\frac{P_3Q_3}{PQ_3}+\frac{P_1Q_1}{PQ_1}=\frac{[PP_1P_2]+[PP_2P_3]+[PP_3P_1]}{[P_1P_2P_3]}=1 We see that we must have at least one of the three fractions less than or equal to \frac{1}{3}, and at least one greater than \frac{1}{3}. These correspond to ratios \frac{PP_i}{PQ_i} being less than or equal to 2, and greater than or equal to 2, respectively, so we are done.
 

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