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Sum of Ratios (Posted on 2011-08-25) Difficulty: 3 of 5
Cevians AA', BB', and CC' are concurrent at the incenter I of ΔABC.

What is the value of
    |AI|      |BI|      |CI|
   ------- + ------- + -------
    |AA'|     |BB'|     |CC'|
in terms of the side lengths a, b, and c of ΔABC?

Can you prove it?

  Submitted by Bractals    
No Rating
Solution: (Hide)
Cevian AA' bisects ∠BAC and therefore
    |A'B|     |A'C|
   ------- = -------  
    |BA|      |CA|

        or

    |A'B|     |CA'|
   ------- = -------  
      c         b
Since |CA'| + |A'B| = |CB| = a,
    b
   --- |A'B| + |A'B| = a
    c

        or

            ac
   |A'B| = -----
            b+c
Cevian BI bisects ∠ABA' and therefore
    |IA|     |IA'|
   ------ = -------  
    |AB|     |A'B|

        or

    |AI|       |IA'|
   ------ = ----------  
     c       ac/(b+c)
Since |AI| + |IA'| = |AA'|,
            a
   |AI| + ----- |AI| = |AA'|        
           b+c

        or

    |AI|       b+c
   ------- = -------
    |AA'|     a+b+c
Similarly,
    |BI|       c+a
   ------- = -------
    |BB'|     a+b+c

        and

    |CI|       a+b
   ------- = -------
    |CC'|     a+b+c
Therefore,
    |AI|      |BI|      |CI|
   ------- + ------- + -------
    |AA'|     |BB'|     |CC'|

       b+c       c+a       a+b
   = ------- + ------- + -------
      a+b+c     a+b+c     a+b+c

   = 2
QED

See Harry's post for an alternate solution.

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
SolutionSolutionHarry2011-08-25 23:59:22
Unproven answer.Jer2011-08-25 13:58:29
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