I Dare You To Take A Special Case! Part 1

Geometry Level 5

If Δ A B C \Delta ABC is not equilateral and the Euler line is parallel to B C BC , what is tan B × tan C ? \tan B \times \tan C?

Give your answer to 3 decimal places.


This problem is part of my set: Geometry


The answer is 3.000.

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3 solutions

Ahmad Saad
Apr 1, 2016

For Euler line , O H C B OH \parallel CB ,
A H = 2 × O M = 2 × H P AH = 2\times OM = 2\times HP ,
H P = 1 3 A P HP = \dfrac13 AP ,
tan B = A P P B \tan B = \dfrac{AP}{PB} ,
C = 9 0 H B P \angle C = 90^\circ - \angle HBP .

tan C = cot ( H B P ) = P B H P = A P / tan B A P / 3 = 3 tan B \begin{aligned} \tan C &=& \cot (\angle HBP ) \\ &=& \dfrac{PB}{HP} \\ &=& \dfrac{AP / \tan B}{AP /3} \\ &=&\dfrac3{\tan B} \end{aligned} .

tan B tan C = 3 \Rightarrow \tan B \tan C = \boxed3 .

Why does A H = 2 × O M AH=2 \times OM ?

Sam Bealing - 5 years, 2 months ago

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Right A H G Right M O G \text{Right } \triangle AHG \sim \text{Right } \triangle MOG

then, A H M O = A G G M \dfrac{AH}{MO} = \dfrac{AG}{GM} .

A M AM is a median in A B C \triangle ABC and G G is a centroid, so A G = 2 × G M AG = 2\times GM .

therefore, A H = 2 × O M AH = 2\times OM

Ahmad Saad - 5 years, 2 months ago

Nice presentation

rajdeep brahma - 3 years, 2 months ago

Solution using complex bash:

Let B = R C = R e 2 i A A = R e 2 i ( A + B ) B=R\\C=Re^{2iA}\\A=Re^{2i(A+B)} where R R is the circumradius of Δ A B C \Delta ABC ,origin is the circumcentre and A A , B B and C C are used to denote vertices (in the argand plane) in the LHS and angles in the RHS. To see how this is true, draw a circle centred at origin and use central angle theorem .

Then, the centroid, G = R 3 ( 1 + e 2 i A + e 2 i ( A + B ) ) G=\dfrac{R}{3}(1+e^{2iA}+e^{2i(A+B)}) B C O G G C B R 2 cos A + cos ( A + 2 B ) = 0 ( on simplifying G C B and equating imaginary part to zero ) 2 cos ( B + C ) + cos ( B C ) = 0 ( A + B + C = π ) 3 cos B cos C = sin B sin C ( on expanding using addition formula ) tan B tan C = 3 BC\parallel OG\iff \frac{G}{C-B} \in \mathbb{R}\\\iff 2\cos A+\cos (A+2B)=0\\\left(\text{on simplifying}\frac{G}{C-B}\text{and equating imaginary part to zero}\right)\\\iff 2\cos (B+C)+\cos (B-C)=0\\(\because A+B+C=\pi)\\\iff 3\cos B\cos C=\sin B\sin C\\ (\text{on expanding using addition formula})\\\iff\tan B\tan C=3

B C O G tan B tan C = 3 \implies \quad BC\parallel OG\iff \tan B\tan C=3

Not bad bash...liked it.

rajdeep brahma - 3 years, 2 months ago

Or you can take the special case of assuming triangle ABC is equilateral since the answer shouldn't change. The lazy way to get through this questions (and because OP dared us to).

Aloysius Ng - 5 years, 2 months ago

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In an equilateral triangle, all the triangle centres are concurrent so there is no Euler Line. This is why the triangle can't be equilateral.

Sam Bealing - 5 years, 2 months ago

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But then it is a special case, a weird special case but one that will still work since it seemed like it would and also geometry doesn't seem to dislike these exceptions. It is true that if one asked if the Euler line made a 30 degree angle with BC, yeah, it probably wouldn't have the same answer, and I would get it wrong. So yeah, don't do it.

Aloysius Ng - 5 years, 2 months ago

The question states that it isn't equilateral. Lucky guess.

A Former Brilliant Member - 5 years, 2 months ago
Sam Bealing
Apr 2, 2016

Let A = ( 1 , 0 , 0 ) , B = ( 0 , 1 , 0 ) , C = ( 0 , 0 , 1 ) A=(1, 0,0),B=(0,1,0),C=(0,0,1) in areal coordinates.

The orthocentre and centroid have coordinates H = ( t a n ( A ) , t a n ( B ) , t a n ( C ) ) , G = ( 1 , 1 , 1 ) H=(tan(A), tan(B), tan(C)), G=(1, 1,1)

The line B C BC has equation x + 0 y + 0 z = 0 x+0y+0z=0 so all lines parallel to this have equation ( 1 + s ) x + s y + s z = 0 (1+s)x+sy+sz=0 for some s s

The line GH (Euler Line) has equation ( t a n ( B ) t a n ( C ) ) x + ( t a n ( C ) t a n ( A ) ) y + ( t a n ( A ) t a n ( B ) ) z + 0 (tan(B) - tan(C)) x+(tan(C) - tan(A)) y+(tan(A) - tan(B)) z+0

So s + 1 = t a n ( B ) t a n ( C ) , s = t a n ( C ) t a n ( A ) = t a n ( A ) t a n ( B ) s+1=tan(B)-tan(C),s=tan(C)-tan(A)=tan(A)-tan(B) for some s s .

Adding together the second two equations we get t a n ( C ) t a n ( B ) = 2 s 2 s = s + 1 s = 1 3 tan(C) - tan(B) =2s \Rightarrow - 2s=s+1 \Rightarrow s=-\frac{1}{3}

Let t a n ( A ) = x tan(A) =x giving t a n ( B ) = x + 1 3 , t a n ( C ) = x 1 3 tan(B) =x+\frac{1}{3},tan(C)=x-\frac{1}{3}

Using t a n ( A ) = t a n ( 180 ( B + C ) ) = t a n ( B + C ) tan(A) =tan(180-(B+C))=-tan(B+C) we get:

x = x + 1 3 + x 1 3 1 ( x + 1 3 ) ( x 1 3 ) x = 2 x x 2 10 9 x 3 28 9 x = 0 x=-\frac{x+\frac{1}{3}+x-\frac{1}{3}}{1-(x+\frac{1}{3})(x-\frac{1}{3})} \Rightarrow x=\frac{2x}{x^2-\frac{10}{9}} \Rightarrow x^3-\frac{28}{9} x=0

But x = t a n ( A ) 0 x=tan(A) \neq 0 so x 2 = 28 9 x^2=\frac{28}{9}

t a n ( B ) t a n ( C ) = ( x + 1 3 ) ( x 1 3 ) = x 2 1 9 = 28 9 1 9 = 3 tan(B)tan(C)=(x+\frac{1}{3})(x-\frac{1}{3}) =x^2-\frac{1}{9}=\frac{28}{9}-\frac{1}{9}=3

Actually, tan B tan C = 3 tan B + tan C = 2 tan A \tan B\tan C=3\iff \tan B+\tan C=2\tan A as long as none of the angles are right angles .

A Former Brilliant Member - 5 years, 2 months ago

Will it not be a special case?

Parv Jain - 5 years, 2 months ago

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I proved t a n ( C ) t a n ( A ) = t a n ( A ) t a b ( B ) t a n ( C ) + t a n ( B ) = 2 t a n ( A ) tan(C) - tan(A) =tan(A) - tab(B) \Rightarrow tan(C) +tan(B) =2 tan(A)

If A + B + C = 180 A+B+C=180 we have: t a n ( A ) + t a n ( B ) + t a n ( C ) = t a n ( A ) t a n ( B ) t a n ( C ) tan(A)+tan(B) +tan(C)=tan(A)tan(B)tan(C)

t a n ( B ) + t a n ( C ) = 2 t a n ( A ) 3 t a n ( A ) = t a n ( A ) t a n ( B ) t a n ( C ) t a n ( B ) t a n ( C ) = 3 tan(B)+tan(C)=2tan(A) \Rightarrow 3tan(A)=tan(A)tan(B)tan(C) \Rightarrow tan(B) tan(C) =3

Sam Bealing - 5 years, 2 months ago

No. I meant once you prove that the tans are in AP.

A Former Brilliant Member - 5 years, 2 months ago

Not bad...good one rather.

rajdeep brahma - 3 years, 2 months ago

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