Art of Problem Solving
AoPS Online
Math texts, online classes, and more
for students in grades 5-12.
Visit AoPS Online ‚
Books for Grades 5-12 Online Courses
Beast Academy
Engaging math books and online learning
for students ages 6-13.
Visit Beast Academy ‚
Books for Ages 6-13 Beast Academy Online
AoPS Academy
Small live classes for advanced math
and language arts learners in grades 2-12.
Visit AoPS Academy ‚
Find a Physical Campus Visit the Virtual Campus

Difference between revisions of "1992 IMO Problems/Problem 5"

(→‎Solution)
(→‎Solution)
Line 44: Line 44:
  
 
<math>|Z_{i}|^{2} \le a_{i}b_{i}|S_{z}|\;</math>
 
<math>|Z_{i}|^{2} \le a_{i}b_{i}|S_{z}|\;</math>
 +
 +
Therefore,
 +
 +
<math>|Z_{i}|^{2} \le \sqrt{a_{i}b_{i}}\sqrt{|S_{z}|}\;</math>
  
  

Revision as of 14:31, 12 November 2023

Problem

Let $S$ be a finite set of points in three-dimensional space. Let $S_{x}$,$S_{y}$,$S_{z}$, be the sets consisting of the orthogonal projections of the points of $S$ onto the $yz$-plane, $zx$-plane, $xy$-plane, respectively. Prove that

\[|S|^{2} \le |S_{x}| \cdot |S_{y}| \cdot |S_{z}|,\]

where $|A|$ denotes the number of elements in the finite set $|A|$. (Note: The orthogonal projection of a point onto a plane is the foot of the perpendicular from that point to the plane)

Solution

Let $Z_{i}$ be planes with index $i$ such that $1 \le i \le n$ that are parallel to the $xy$-plane that contain multiple points of $S$ on those planes such that all points of $S$ are distributed throughout all planes $Z_{i}$ according to their $z$-coordinates in common.

Let $a_{i}$ be the number of unique projected points from each $Z_{i}$ to the $yz$-plane

Let $b_{i}$ be the number of unique projected points from each $Z_{i}$ to the $xz$-plane

This provides the following:

$|Z_{i}| \le a_{i}b_{i}\;$ [Equation 1]

We also know that

$|S|=\sum_{i=1}^{n}|Z_{i}|\;$ [Equation 2]

Since $a_{i}$ be the number of unique projected points from each $Z_{i}$ to the $yz$-plane,

if we add them together it will give us the total points projected onto the $yz$-plane.

Therefore,

$|S_{x}|=\sum_{i=1}^{n}a_{i}\;$ [Equation 3]

likewise,

$|S_{y}|=\sum_{i=1}^{n}b_{i}\;$ [Equation 4]

We also know that the total number of elements of each $Z_{i}$ is less or equal to the total number of elements in $S_{z}$

That is,

$|Z_{i}| \le |S_{z}|\;$ [Equation 5]

Multiplying [Equation 1] by [Equation 5] we get:

$|Z_{i}|^{2} \le a_{i}b_{i}|S_{z}|\;$

Therefore,

$|Z_{i}|^{2} \le \sqrt{a_{i}b_{i}}\sqrt{|S_{z}|}\;$



Alternate solutions are always welcome. If you have a different, elegant solution to this problem, please add it to this page.

Retrieved from "https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php?title=1992_IMO_Problems/Problem_5&oldid=202665"