IMO 1964 · Problem 3

A circle is inscribed in triangle \(ABC\) with sides \(a, b, c\). Tangents to the circle parallel to the sides of the triangle are constructed. Each of these tangents cuts off a triangle from \(\Delta ABC\). In each of these triangles, a circle is inscribed. Find the sum of the areas of all four inscribed circles (in terms of \(a, b, c\)).

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

Answer

\[ \boxed{\frac{\pi(a^2+b^2+c^2)(b+c-a)(c+a-b)(a+b-c)} {(a+b+c)^3}}. \]

Solution

Let \(BC=a\), \(CA=b\), \(AB=c\), and write \[ s=\frac{a+b+c}{2}. \] Denote the area of \(ABC\) by \(K\) and its inradius by \(r\). Joining the incenter to the vertices partitions \(ABC\) into three triangles with heights \(r\), so \[ K=\frac{r(a+b+c)}2=rs. \]

Consider the tangent parallel to \(BC\) and distinct from \(BC\). These two parallel tangents lie on opposite sides of the incircle, so their distance is \(2r\). If \(h_a\) is the altitude from \(A\) to \(BC\), then \[ h_a=\frac{2K}{a}=\frac{2rs}{a}, \qquad \frac{2r}{h_a}=\frac as<1, \] where the strict inequality follows from \(a<b+c\). Thus the new tangent lies strictly between \(BC\) and \(A\), meeting the interiors of \(AB\) and \(AC\).

The triangle it cuts off at \(A\) is similar to \(ABC\), with similarity ratio \[ \frac{h_a-2r}{h_a}=1-\frac as=\frac{s-a}{s}. \] A similarity scales the inradius by the same ratio. Hence the inradius \(r_a\) of this smaller triangle is \[ r_a=r\frac{s-a}{s}. \] Likewise, the other two smaller triangles have inradii \[ r_b=r\frac{s-b}{s}, \qquad r_c=r\frac{s-c}{s}. \] All three ratios are positive by the strict triangle inequalities, so none of these triangles is degenerate.

Consequently, the required sum \(T\) is \[ \begin{aligned} T &=\pi(r^2+r_a^2+r_b^2+r_c^2)\\ &=\frac{\pi r^2}{s^2} \left[s^2+(s-a)^2+(s-b)^2+(s-c)^2\right]\\ &=\frac{\pi r^2(a^2+b^2+c^2)}{s^2}, \end{aligned} \] because \(a+b+c=2s\).

By Heron’s formula and \(K=rs\), \[ r^2=\frac{K^2}{s^2} =\frac{(s-a)(s-b)(s-c)}s. \] Therefore \[ T=\frac{\pi(a^2+b^2+c^2)(s-a)(s-b)(s-c)}{s^3} =\boxed{\frac{\pi(a^2+b^2+c^2)(b+c-a)(c+a-b)(a+b-c)} {(a+b+c)^3}}. \]

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