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Difference between revisions of "1981 IMO Problems/Problem 1"

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Latest revision as of 20:08, 1 February 2021

Problem

$P$ is a point inside a given triangle $ABC$. $D, E, F$ are the feet of the perpendiculars from $P$ to the lines $BC, CA, AB$, respectively. Find all $P$ for which

$\frac{BC}{PD} + \frac{CA}{PE} + \frac{AB}{PF}$

is least.

Solution

We note that $BC \cdot PD + CA \cdot PE + AB \cdot PF$ is twice the triangle's area, i.e., constant. By the Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality,

${(BC \cdot PD + CA \cdot PE + AB \cdot PF) \left(\frac{BC}{PD} + \frac{CA}{PE} + \frac{AB}{PF} \right) \ge ( BC + CA + AB )^2}$,

with equality exactly when $PD = PE = PF$, which occurs when $P$ is the triangle's incenter, Q.E.D.

Alternate solutions are always welcome. If you have a different, elegant solution to this problem, please add it to this page.

1981 IMO (Problems) • Resources
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Problem 2
All IMO Problems and Solutions
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