The sides of a triangle are three consecutive integers and its in-radius is four units. Determine the circumradius.
The question is adapted from RMO 1995.
Please post your solution.
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Let the sides be a − 1 , a and a + 1 , let r be the inradius, R the circumradius and A the area.
By Heron's formula:
A = 4 ( a − 1 + a + a + 1 ) ( a − 1 + a − a − 1 ) ( a − 1 − a + a + 1 ) ( − a + 1 + a + a + 1 )
A = 4 a 3 ( a 2 − 4 )
The well-known formulas tell us that:
r = a − 1 + a + a + 1 2 A = 6 3 ( a 2 − 4 )
But r = 4 , so:
4 = 6 3 ( a 2 − 4 )
Solving for a we get a = 1 4 .
Also, the formula that relates r and R is:
r R = 2 ( a − 1 + a + a + 1 ) ( a − 1 ) ( a ) ( a + 1 )
4 R = 2 ( 4 2 ) 1 3 × 1 4 × 1 5
R = 8 6 5 = 8 . 1 2 5