An Unusual Equable Triangle

Geometry Level 5

I'm thinking of a triangle where the area is numerically the same as the perimeter and in which the centroid , G G , and nine-point circle center, N N , both lie on the incircle, centered at I I . If s s is the length of the shortest side of the triangle, submit 1 0 5 s \lfloor10^5s\rfloor .


The answer is 576622.

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1 solution

Chris Lewis
Feb 2, 2021

So we can use s s for the triangle's semiperimeter, let's define the shortest side to be a a (which matches the diagram in the question).

All equable triangles (indeed, all equable tangential polygons) have inradius 2 2 ; just equate the area r s rs and the perimeter 2 s 2s .

Now it's time to look up formulas for the distances between centres. In any triangle, the distance between the incentre I I and the centre of the nine-point circle N N is I N = R 2 r 2 IN = \frac{R-2r}{2}

The distance between the incentre and the centroid G G is I G = 1 3 5 r 2 16 R r + s 2 IG =\frac13 \sqrt{5r^2-16Rr+s^2}

In this case, we want r = I G = I N = 2 r=IG=IN=2 ; solving the above we get R = 8 , s = 4 17 R=8,\;\;\;s=4\sqrt{17}

By definition of s s , we have a + b + c = 8 17 a+b+c=8\sqrt{17} . Now, using 2 R r = a b c a + b + c 2Rr=\frac{abc}{a+b+c} we get a b c = 256 17 abc=256\sqrt{17}

Equating area formulas, r s = s ( s a ) ( s b ) ( s c ) r 2 s = ( s a ) ( s b ) ( s c ) = s 3 ( a + b + c ) s 2 + ( b c + c a + a b ) s a b c = s 3 + ( b c + c a + a b ) s a b c \begin{aligned} rs&=\sqrt{s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c)} \\ r^2 s &= (s-a)(s-b)(s-c) \\ &= s^3-(a+b+c)s^2+(bc+ca+ab)s-abc \\ &= -s^3+(bc+ca+ab)s-abc \end{aligned}

Rearranging, this gives b c + c a + a b = r 2 s + s 3 + a b c s = 340 bc+ca+ab=\frac{r^2 s+s^3+abc}{s} = 340

So the sidelengths a , b , c a,b,c are the roots of the cubic x 3 8 17 x 2 + 340 x 256 17 = 0 x^3-8\sqrt{17}x^2+340x-256\sqrt{17}=0

I don't think this factorises nicely; numerically, the smallest root is 5.76622 5.76622\ldots giving the answer 576622 \boxed{576622} .

That's saved me typing all that up!

Mark Hennings - 4 months, 1 week ago

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Same approach? I wasn't that happy about just quoting formulas for the distances between centres, but it seemed horrific to try any other way. Then again, I'm not very good with nine-point circles.

Chris Lewis - 4 months, 1 week ago

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Exactly the same. The only nonstandard one is I G IG , which normally appears in a complicated expression involving a , b , c a,b,c explicitly...

Mark Hennings - 4 months, 1 week ago

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