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The Problems of Ukrainian Authors

Ukraine geometry

Problem

Does the triangle, sides of which can be expressed as a positive integer in centimeters and 2 of its medians are perpendicular, exist?
Solution
Let's find the condition on the sides of the triangle, under which the medians are perpendicular. Without loss of generality let's consider that medians (from the edge ) and (from the edge ) are perpendicular. Let's use vectors: , . Then , . These vectors are perpendicular, so, their dot product is equal to . So,

Let's substitute (*): . Let's notice, that .

So, we can rewrite the equation like this: . Let's notice, that this condition is necessary and sufficient for medians to be perpendicular. That's why the only thing that remains is to check if this equation has the solution in integers, that is true for triangle inequality. Let's find in this form: . Then, If and , the triangle with the sides , and satisfy the condition. So, we've found the triangle, 2 medians of which are perpendicular and the sides are integers.
Final answer
Yes; for example, a triangle with sides 13 cm, 19 cm, and 22 cm has two perpendicular medians.

Techniques

VectorsTriangle inequalitiesTriangles