Now we're introducing "Limits" in Geometry!

Geometry Level 5

Let m , w m,w and h h be the lengths of the median, the angle bisector and the altitude, respectively, from the right-angled vertex A A of a triangle A B C ABC to the hypotenuse. Suppose that the side c c is fixed in length, while the side b b varies subject to a > b c a>b \geq c . Evaluate the value of the following correct upto three places of decimals:

lim b c m h w h = ? \large{\lim_{b \to c} \dfrac{m-h}{w-h}=\ ?}


The answer is 4.000.

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3 solutions

Stanley Xiao
Oct 3, 2015

Without loss of generality, we may assume that the side length c = 1 c = 1 . Let us embed the triangle A B C ABC into the Euclidean plane R 2 \mathbb{R}^2 as follows. Place it so that the vertex A A is at the origin, the vertex B B at the point ( 0 , 1 ) (0,1) , and the point C C as a variable point ( c , 0 ) (c,0) . We then have explicit formulae for w , m , h w,m, h as functions of c c . In particular, we realize that m ( c ) m(c) is simply half the length of the hypotenuse, whence m ( c ) = 1 + c 2 2 m(c) = \frac{\sqrt{1+c^2}}{2} . Next, let W W be the point of intersection of the hypotenuse and the line y = x y = x . Then w ( c ) w(c) is the length of the line segment A W \overline{AW} . The hypotenuse lies on the line with equation y = x c + 1 y = \frac{-x}{c} + 1 , whence W W has coordinates ( c c + 1 , c c + 1 ) \left(\frac{c}{c+1}, \frac{c}{c+1} \right) . Thus w ( c ) = 2 c c + 1 w(c) = \frac{\sqrt{2} c}{c+1} . Finally, we may compute h ( c ) h(c) via similar triangles and deduce that h ( c ) 1 = c 1 + c 2 . \frac{h(c)}{1} = \frac{c}{\sqrt{1+c^2}}. Thus the desired limit is equal to lim c 1 1 + c 2 2 c 1 + c 2 2 c c + 1 c c 2 + 1 = lim c 1 ( c 1 ) 2 ( c + 1 ) 2 c ( 2 c 2 + 2 c 1 ) . \lim_{c \rightarrow 1} \dfrac{\dfrac{\sqrt{1+c^2}}{2} - \dfrac{c}{\sqrt{1 + c^2}}}{\dfrac{\sqrt{2} c}{c+1} - \dfrac{c}{\sqrt{c^2+1}}} = \lim_{c \rightarrow 1} \frac{(c-1)^2 (c+1)}{2c(\sqrt{2c^2 + 2} - c - 1)}. We can evaluate this limit by the usual conjugation trick in first year calculus, to obtain the limit lim c 1 ( c 1 ) 2 ( c + 1 ) ( 2 c 2 + 2 + c + 1 ) 2 c ( 2 c 2 + 2 c 2 2 c 1 ) = lim c 1 ( c + 1 ) ( 2 c 2 + 2 + c + 1 ) 2 c = 4 , \lim_{c \rightarrow 1} \frac{(c-1)^2 (c+1) (\sqrt{2c^2 + 2} + c + 1)}{2c(2c^2 + 2 - c^2 - 2c - 1)} = \lim_{c \rightarrow 1} \frac{(c+1)(\sqrt{2c^2 + 2} + c + 1)}{2c} = 4, by inspection.

Yeah, same method. Bashing made the question easy.

Aditya Kumar - 5 years, 8 months ago

Trig bash would've been much simpler though.

Deeparaj Bhat - 5 years, 1 month ago
Shabnam Lohawala
Oct 3, 2015

<DAE=B-45°

w=h sec(B-45°)

<DAM = 2B - 90°

m = h sec(2B-90°)

b->c => B->45°

Put B-45°=X, the limit is reduced to

lim(X->0) ({sec 2X-1}/{sec X-1}) =4

Take A as origin, B as ( c,0) and C as (0,b). Now find equation of lineBC with 2-point form. Write length of perpendicular . To find length of median apply distance formula for origin and (b/2,c/2) . To find length of angle bisector find point of intersection of BC and line y=x. Now put the values in limit and rationalise to get answer as 4.

You should avoid reusing notation. IE a, b, c already stand for side lengths in the question.

Calvin Lin Staff - 5 years, 7 months ago

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