Divide to n parts

Geometry Level 4

Consider a triangle with sides a a , b b and c c . Divide each side to n n number of equal parts. Then connect each dividing point to the opposite vertex with a line segment. Let S S be the sum of the squares of these line segments' lengths. Is S a 2 + b 2 + c 2 \dfrac{S}{a^2+b^2+c^2} rational or irrational?

Sometimes rational, sometimes irrational It's always rational It's always irrational

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1 solution

Mark Hennings
Aug 24, 2017

If S A , S B , S C S_A,S_B,S_C are the sums of the squares of the segments emanating from A , B , C A,B,C respectively, then S A = j = 1 n 1 [ ( j a n ) 2 + c 2 2 j a c n cos B ] = j = 0 n 1 [ j 2 n 2 a 2 + c 2 j n ( a 2 + c 2 b 2 ) ] = j = 1 n 1 [ j ( j n ) n 2 a 2 + j n b 2 + n j n c 2 ] \begin{aligned} S_A & = \; \sum_{j=1}^{n-1} \Big[\left(\frac{ja}{n}\right)^2 + c^2 - \frac{2jac}{n}\cos B\Big] \; =\; \sum_{j=0}^{n-1} \Big[\frac{j^2}{n^2}a^2 + c^2 - \frac{j}{n}(a^2 + c^2 - b^2)\Big] \\ & = \; \sum_{j=1}^{n-1} \Big[\frac{j(j-n)}{n^2}a^2 + \frac{j}{n}b^2 + \frac{n-j}{n}c^2\Big] \end{aligned} using the Cosine Rule several times. Similar formulae can be found for S B , S C S_B,S_C . Thus S = S A + S B + S C = ( a 2 + b 2 + c 2 ) j = 1 n 1 ( j 2 n j n 2 + j n + n j n ) = ( 5 n 1 ) ( n 1 ) 6 n ( a 2 + b 2 + c 2 ) S \; = \; S_A + S_B + S_C \; = \; (a^2 + b^2 + c^2)\sum_{j=1}^{n-1}\left(\frac{j^2-nj}{n^2} + \frac{j}{n} + \frac{n-j}{n}\right) \; =\; \frac{(5n-1)(n-1)}{6n}(a^2 + b^2 + c^2) and hence S a 2 + b 2 + c 2 = ( 5 n 1 ) ( n 1 ) 6 n \frac{S}{a^2 + b^2 + c^2} \; = \; \frac{(5n-1)(n-1)}{6n} is always rational.

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