Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 6 / 325 of 400 #1325 of 1964

Problem 1325

National Olympiad, first round
Geometry Difficulty 6.3 Prove it

Example 11) Let the side length of the equilateral △ABC\triangle A B C be 1, and there are nn equal division points on side BCB C, sequentially from point BB to point CC, denoted as P1,P2,⋯ ,Pn−1P_{1}, P_{2}, \cdots, P_{n-1}. If Sn=AB→⋅AP1→+AP1→⋅AP2→+⋯+AP→n−1⋅AC→S_{n}=\overrightarrow{A B} \cdot \overrightarrow{A P_{1}}+\overrightarrow{A P_{1}} \cdot \overrightarrow{A P_{2}}+\cdots+\overrightarrow{A P}_{n-1} \cdot \overrightarrow{A C}. Prove: Sn=5n2−26nS_{n}=\frac{5 n^{2}-2}{6 n}.

This one wants a proof. Work it on paper, then read the official solution and mark yourself. Be honest about it: the record is only any use to you if it is.

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Official solution

Analyzing the use of the dot product, the problem is transformed into a series summation.
Proof: Let AB→=c,AC→=b,BC→=a\overrightarrow{A B}=\boldsymbol{c}, \overrightarrow{A C}=\boldsymbol{b}, \overrightarrow{B C}=\boldsymbol{a}. Let 1nBC→=p\frac{1}{n} \overrightarrow{B C}=\boldsymbol{p}, then APk→=AB→+BPk→=c+kp(k=0,1,2,⋯ ,n)\overrightarrow{A P_{k}}=\overrightarrow{A B}+\overrightarrow{B P_{k}}=\boldsymbol{c}+k \boldsymbol{p}(k=0,1,2, \cdots, n), where AP0→=AB→,APn→=AC→\overrightarrow{A P_{0}}=\overrightarrow{A B}, \overrightarrow{A P_{n}}=\overrightarrow{A C}
Therefore, APk−1→⋅APk→=[c+(k−1)p]⋅[c+kp]\overrightarrow{A P_{k-1}} \cdot \overrightarrow{A P_{k}}=[\boldsymbol{c}+(k-1) \boldsymbol{p}] \cdot[\boldsymbol{c}+k \boldsymbol{p}]
=c2+(2k−1)c⋅p+k(k−1)p2(k=1,2,⋯ ,n) \begin{aligned} = & \boldsymbol{c}^{2}+(2 k-1) \boldsymbol{c} \cdot \boldsymbol{p}+k(k-1) \boldsymbol{p}^{2} \\ & (k=1,2, \cdots, n) \end{aligned}

Since Sn=AB→⋅AP1→+AP1→⋅AP2→+⋯+APn−1→⋅AC→\quad S_{n}=\overrightarrow{A B} \cdot \overrightarrow{A P_{1}}+\overrightarrow{A P_{1}} \cdot \overrightarrow{A P_{2}}+\cdots+\overrightarrow{A P_{n-1}} \cdot \overrightarrow{A C}
Therefore,
Sn=nc2+[∑k=1n(2k−1)]c⋅p+[∑k=1nk(k−=nc2+n2⋅c⋅p+n(n+1)(n−1)3⋅p2=nc2+nc⋅(np)+n2−13n(np)2=nc2+nc⋅a+n2−13na2 \begin{aligned} S_{n} & =n \boldsymbol{c}^{2}+\left[\sum_{k=1}^{n}(2 k-1)\right] \boldsymbol{c} \cdot \boldsymbol{p}+\left[\sum_{k=1}^{n} k(k-\right. \\ & =n \boldsymbol{c}^{2}+n^{2} \cdot \boldsymbol{c} \cdot \boldsymbol{p}+\frac{n(n+1)(n-1)}{3} \cdot \boldsymbol{p}^{2} \\ & =n \boldsymbol{c}^{2}+n \boldsymbol{c} \cdot(n \boldsymbol{p})+\frac{n^{2}-1}{3 n}(n \boldsymbol{p})^{2} \\ & =n \boldsymbol{c}^{2}+n \boldsymbol{c} \cdot \boldsymbol{a}+\frac{n^{2}-1}{3 n} \boldsymbol{a}^{2} \end{aligned}

Since ∣a∣=∣b∣=∣c∣=1\quad|\boldsymbol{a}|=|\boldsymbol{b}|=|\boldsymbol{c}|=1
and the angle between c\boldsymbol{c} and a\boldsymbol{a} is 120∘120^{\circ}
Therefore, Sn=n−12n+n2−13n=5n2−26nS_{n}=n-\frac{1}{2} n+\frac{n^{2}-1}{3 n}=\frac{5 n^{2}-2}{6 n}

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty, ordering) added by this project.