The circle divides each side of an equilateral triangle into three equal parts. Prove that the sum of the squares of the distances from any point of this circle to the vertices of the triangle is constant.
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Tags: geometry, Equilateral, fixed
20.07.2021 16:58
ok actually i did it with coordinate bash ..............pls if anyone has another shorter approach send it
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20.07.2021 22:07
We use the following theorem: Let $P$ be any point in the plane of a ∆ $ABC$. Then $$(PA)^2 + (PB)^2 + (PC)^2 = (GA)^2 + (GB)^2 + (GC)^2 + 3(PG)^2$$. This can be proved for example by assigning complex coordinates and using distance formula. Here $G$ denotes the centroid of the triangle. For this problem, $P$ is a point on the concerned circle and $G = O$ where $O$ is the center of the circle. Also as a consequence of Apollonius's Theorem, $(GA)^2 + (GB)^2 + (GC)^2=1/3(a^2+b^2+c^2)$, where $a,b,c$ denote the sides of the triangle $ABC$ In this case, since $ABC$ is equilateral, we have $(PA)^2 + (PB)^2 + (PC)^2 = a^2$ where $a$ is the side length. And $3(PG)^2 = 3R^2 = 3a^2$ (which can be shown by elementary geometry). Thus the required sum of squares of distances is $4a^2$, which is a constant. Q.E.D