IMO 1959 · Problem 4

Construct a right triangle with given hypotenuse \(c\) such that the median drawn to the hypotenuse is the geometric mean of the two legs of the triangle.

Official text of the problem. Official problem paper (PDF)

Solution

Let \(AB\) be the given segment, with length \(c>0\).

Construction.

  1. Construct the midpoint \(M\) of \(AB\) and the circle \(\Gamma\) with centre \(M\) and radius \(c/2\).
  2. Draw the perpendicular to \(AB\) through \(M\), and let \(D\) be either of its intersections with \(\Gamma\).
  3. Construct the midpoint \(E\) of \(MD\).
  4. Through \(E\), draw the line parallel to \(AB\), and choose either of its intersections \(C\) with \(\Gamma\).

Then \(ABC\) is a required triangle.

Verification. Since \[ ME=\frac{MD}{2}=\frac c4<\frac c2, \] the line in step 4 intersects \(\Gamma\) in two distinct points. Moreover, its distance from \(AB\) is \(c/4>0\), so the constructed triangle is nondegenerate.

Because \(AB\) is a diameter of \(\Gamma\), Thales’ theorem gives \[ \angle ACB=90^\circ. \] The median to the hypotenuse is \(CM\), whose length is the radius \(c/2\).

The altitude from \(C\) to \(AB\) has length \(ME=c/4\). Computing the area using first the perpendicular legs and then the hypotenuse and its altitude gives \[ \frac12\,AC\cdot BC =\frac12\,AB\cdot ME =\frac{c^2}{8}. \] Consequently, \[ \sqrt{AC\cdot BC}=\sqrt{\frac{c^2}{4}}=\frac c2=CM, \] as required.

Completeness. Conversely, in any right triangle with hypotenuse \(AB=c\), the median to \(AB\) has length \(c/2\). Thus the required condition forces the product of the legs to be \(c^2/4\). If \(h\) is the altitude to \(AB\), the area identity gives \[ ch=AC\cdot BC=\frac{c^2}{4}, \qquad\text{so}\qquad h=\frac c4. \] Hence the right-angle vertex must lie both on \(\Gamma\) and on one of the two lines parallel to \(AB\) at distance \(c/4\). These are exactly the four positions covered by the construction. They give congruent triangles, related by reflections in \(AB\) and its perpendicular bisector.

The solution was checked against John Scholes' IMO solution archive (Kalva).