The Lehmus inequality (Q760007): Difference between revisions

This is a survey on the Lehmus inequality. The main facts reported are: The cubic polynomial \(\Gamma =abc-(b+c-a)(c+a-b)(a+b-c)\) has an interesting history. D. C. L. Lehmus proved in 1820 that the inequality \(\Gamma >0\) holds whenever a, b, c are positive and not all equal. Other proofs were devised by G. Peano in 1902, A. Padoa in 1925, G. N. Watson in 1953, and O. Bottema in 1982. In 1746, W. Chapple showed that the distance OI between the circumcentre and the incentre of a triangle is given by \(OI^ 2=R(R-2r)\), where R and r are the circumradius and inradius. In 1870, R. Baltzer remarked that the consequent inequality \(R>2r\) (for a triangle whose sides a, b, c are not all equal) is equivalent to \(\Gamma >0.\) In 1891, E. W. Hobson expressed the difference R-2r as 2NI, where N is the centre of Feuerbach's nine-point circle, thus providing a simple proof that this circle is tangent to the incircle. In 1967, L. Bankoff used the inequality \(R>2r\) to prove that the angle GIH (where G and H are the barycentre and orthocentre) is always obtuse. Finally, J. C. Linders and J. H. H. Chalk have contributed new proofs that, in terms of barycentric coordinates a, b, c the cubic curve given by the parametric equations \(a=\alpha (\beta -\gamma)^ 2\), \(b=\beta (\gamma -\alpha)^ 2\), \(c=\gamma (\alpha -\beta)^ 2\), \(\alpha +\beta +\gamma =0\) has the explicit equation \(\Gamma =0\).