Meta-Medians

Geometry Level 5

In a triangle A B C ABC the points D , E , F D,E, F are located on sides A B , B C , AB,BC, and C A CA respectives so that A F A B = B D B C = C E C A = 1 3 \frac{AF}{AB}= \frac{BD}{BC}=\frac{CE}{CA}=\frac{1}{3} . Find the value of the ratio A D 2 + B E 2 + C F 2 A B 2 + B C 2 + C A 2 \frac{AD^2+BE^2+CF^2}{AB^2+BC^2+CA^2}

If the result is in the form a b \frac{a}{b} , where a a and b b are coprime positive integers, report a + b a+b .

Inspiration: Triangle Centroid by Worranat Pakornrat

Note: Drawing is not to scale.


The answer is 16.

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2 solutions

Marta Reece
Feb 25, 2017

Let's introduce a = B C , b = C A , c = A B , α = C F , β = A D , γ = B E a=BC, b=CA, c=AB, \alpha=CF, \beta=AD, \gamma=BE . We want to find

α 2 + β 2 + γ 2 a 2 + b 2 + c 2 \frac{\alpha^2+\beta^2+\gamma^2}{a^2+b^2+c^2}

Law of cosines applied three times to A B C \triangle ABC :

a 2 = b 2 + c 2 2 b c × c o s A a^2=b^2+c^2-2bc\times cosA

b 2 = a 2 + c 2 2 a c × c o s B b^2=a^2+c^2-2ac\times cosB

c 2 = b 2 + a 2 2 a b × c o s C c^2=b^2+a^2-2ab\times cosC

The three lines added together and the result simplified:

a 2 + b 2 + c 2 = 2 ( a 2 + b 2 + c 2 ) ( 2 b c × c o s A + 2 a c × c o s B + 2 a b × c o s C ) a^2+b^2+c^2=2(a^2+b^2+c^2)-(2bc\times cosA+2ac\times cosB+2ab\times cosC)

a 2 + b 2 + c 2 = ( 2 b c × c o s A + 2 a c × c o s B + 2 a b × c o s C ) a^2+b^2+c^2=(2bc\times cosA+2ac\times cosB+2ab\times cosC)

Law of cosines used for the not-quite-medians:

α 2 = b 2 + ( c 3 ) 2 2 b c 3 × c o s A \alpha^2=b^2+(\frac{c}{3})^2-2b\frac{c}{3}\times cosA

β 2 = c 2 + ( a 3 ) 2 2 c a 3 × c o s B \beta^2=c^2+(\frac{a}{3})^2-2c\frac{a}{3}\times cosB

γ 2 = a 2 + ( b 3 ) 2 2 a b 3 × c o s C \gamma^2=a^2+(\frac{b}{3})^2-2a\frac{b}{3}\times cosC

There three lines added and simplified:

α 2 + β 2 + γ 2 = 10 9 ( a 2 + b 2 + c 2 ) 1 3 ( 2 b c × c o s A + 2 a c × c o s B + 2 a b × c o s C ) \alpha^2+\beta^2+\gamma^2=\frac{10}{9}(a^2+b^2+c^2)-\frac{1}{3}(2bc\times cosA+2ac\times cosB+2ab\times cosC)

The last expression replaced with the result from the first three lines:

α 2 + β 2 + γ 2 = 10 9 ( a 2 + b 2 + c 2 ) 1 3 ( a 2 + b 2 + c 2 ) = 7 9 ( a 2 + b 2 + c 2 ) \alpha^2+\beta^2+\gamma^2=\frac{10}{9}(a^2+b^2+c^2)-\frac{1}{3}(a^2+b^2+c^2)=\frac{7}{9}(a^2+b^2+c^2)

If we apply the Stewart's theorem, then the angle becomes redundant, and the calculations are straight forward as well.

Siva Bathula - 4 years, 3 months ago

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The angle is and was redundant from the start. It was sneaked in to discourage the shortcut of going straight to an equilateral triangle without ever considering the general problem. Unfortunately it also misleads in other ways, as well as detracts from any aesthetic appeal. You can't have it all, I guess.

Marta Reece - 4 years, 3 months ago

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Could you add that as a comment at the top of the solution? It's great that you're aware you introduced extraneous information :)

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years, 3 months ago

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@Calvin Lin On careful consideration, I have decided to remove the extraneous information. I think the problem is more elegant this way.

Marta Reece - 4 years, 2 months ago

Yeah, to be honest I didn't go through your solution, since it was long. Given that you used cosine rule, and a proof for Stewart's uses cosine rule, it is more or less the same.

Siva Bathula - 4 years, 3 months ago

Stewart's theorem, applied to this situation, would be:

a b 2 3 + 2 a c 2 3 = 2 ( α 2 + 2 a 2 9 ) \frac{ab^2}{3}+\frac{2ac^2}{3}=2(\alpha^2+\frac{2a^2}{9})

It is not obvious to me how this contributes in any straigh-forward way.

Marta Reece - 4 years, 3 months ago

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If we sum the three equations for AD^2, BE^2, CF^2 then the sum can be simplified to 7/9(a^2 + b^2 + c^2).

Siva Bathula - 4 years, 3 months ago

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