2001 USAMO Problems/Problem 4

Problem

Let $P$ be a point in the plane of triangle $ABC$ such that the segments $PA$ , $PB$ , and $PC$ are the sides of an obtuse triangle. Assume that in this triangle the obtuse angle opposes the side congruent to $PA$ . Prove that $\angle BAC$ is acute.

Solution

Solution 1

We know that $PB^2+PC^2 < PA^2$ and we wish to prove that $AB^2 + AC^2 > BC^2$ . It would be sufficient to prove that $PB^2+PC^2+AB^2+AC^2 \geq PA^2 + BC^2.$ Set $A(0,0)$ , $B(1,0)$ , $C(x,y)$ , $P(p,q)$ . Then, we wish to show

$(p-1)^2 + q^2 + (p-x)^2 + (q-y)^2 + 1 + x^2 + y^2 \geq p^2 + q^2 + (x-1)^2 + y^2$ $2p^2 + 2q^2 + 2x^2 + 2y^2 - 2p - 2px - 2qy + 2 \geq p^2 + q^2 + x^2 + y^2 - 2x + 1$ $p^2 + q^2 + x^2 + y^2 + 2x - 2p - 2px - 2qy + 1 \geq 0$ $(x-p)^2 + (q-y)^2 + 2(x-p) + 1 \geq 0$ $(x-p+1)^2 + (q-y)^2 \geq 0,$

which is true by the trivial inequality.

Solution 2

Let $A$ be the origin. For a point $Q$ , denote by $q$ the vector $\overrightarrow{AQ}$ , and denote by $|q|$ the length of $q$ . The given conditions may be written as $|p - b|^2 + |p - c|^2 < |p|^2,$ or $p\cdot p + b\cdot b + c\cdot c - 2p\cdot b - 2p\cdot c < 0.$ Adding $2b\cdot c$ on both sides of the last inequality gives $|p - b - c|^2 < 2b\cdot c.$ Since the left-hand side of the last inequality is nonnegative, the right-hand side is positive. Hence $\cos\angle BAC = \frac{b\cdot c}{|b||c|} > 0,$ that is, $\angle BAC$ is acute.

Solution 3

For the sake of contradiction, let's assume to the contrary that $\angle BAC$ . Let $AB = c$ , $BC = a$ , and $CA = b$ . Then $a^2\geq b^2 + c^2$ . We claim that the quadrilateral $ABPC$ is convex. Now applying the generalized Ptolemy's Theorem to the convex quadrilateral $ABPC$ yields $a\cdot PA\leq b\cdot PB + c\cdot PC\leq\sqrt{b^2 + c^2}\sqrt{PB^2 + PC^2}\leq a\sqrt{PB^2 + PC^2},$ where the second inequality is by Cauchy-Schwarz. This implies $PA^2\leq PB^2 + PC^2$ , in contradiction with the facts that $PA$ , $PB$ , and $PC$ are the sides of an obtuse triangle and $PA > \max\{PB, PC\}$ .

We present two arguments to prove our claim.

First argument: Without loss of generality, we may assume that $A$ , $B$ , and $C$ are in counterclockwise order. Let lines $l_1$ and $l_2$ be the perpendicular bisectors of segments $AB$ and $AC$ , respectively. Then $l_1$ and $l_2$ meet at $O$ , the circumcenter of triangle $ABC$ . Lines $l_1$ and $l_2$ cut the plane into four regions and $A$ is in the interior of one of these regions. Since $PA > PB$ and $PA > PC$ , $P$ must be in the interior of the region that opposes $A$ . Since $\angle BAC$ is not acute, ray $AC$ does not meet $l_1$ and ray $AB$ does not meet $l_2$ . Hence $B$ and $C$ must lie in the interiors of the regions adjacent to $A$ . Let $\mathcal{R}_X$ denote the region containing $X$ . Then $\mathcal{R}_A$ , $\mathcal{R}_B$ , $\mathcal{R}_P$ , and $\mathcal{R}_C$ are the four regions in counterclockwise order. Since $\angle BAC\geq 90^\circ$ , either $O$ is on side $BC$ or $O$ and $A$ are on opposite sides of line $BC$ . In either case $P$ and $A$ are on opposite sides of line $BC$ . Also, since ray $AB$ does not meet $l_2$ and ray $AC$ does not meet $l_1$ , it follows that $\mathcal{R}_P$ is entirely in the interior of $\angle BAC$ . Hence $B$ and $C$ are on opposite sides of $AP$ . Therefore $ABPC$ is convex.

Second argument: Since $PA > PB$ and $PA > PC$ , $A$ cannot be inside or on the sides of triangle $PBC$ . Since $PA > PB$ , we have $\angle ABP > \angle BAP$ and hence $\angle BAC\geq 90^\circ > \angle BAP$ . Hence $C$ cannot be inside or on the sides of triangle $BAP$ . Symmetrically, $B$ cannot be inside or on the sides of triangle $CAP$ . Finally, since $\angle ABP > \angle BAP$ and $\angle ACP > \angle CAP$ , we have $\angle ABP + \angle ACP > \angle BAC\geq 90^\circ\geq\angle ABC + \angle ACB.$ Therefore $P$ cannot be inside or on the sides of triangle $ABC$ . Since this covers all four cases, $ABPC$ is convex.

Solution 4

Let $P$ be the origin in vector space, and let $a, b, c$ denote the position vectors of $A, B, C$ respectively. Then the obtuse triangle condition, $PA^2 > PB^2 + PC^2$ , becomes $a^2 > b^2 + c^2$ using the fact that the square of a vector (the dot product of itself and itself) is the square of its magnitude. Now, notice that to prove $\angle{BAC}$ is acute, it suffices to show that $(a - b)(a - c) > 0$ , or $a^2 - ab - ac + bc > 0$ . But this follows from the observation that $(-a + b + c)^2 \ge 0,$ which leads to $2a^2 - 2ab - 2ac + 2bc > a^2 + b^2 + c^2 - 2ab - 2ac + 2bc \ge 0$ and therefore our desired conclusion.

2001 USAMO (Problems • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 3	Followed by Problem 5
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6
All USAMO Problems and Solutions

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