Extreme values for the area of rectangles with vertices on concentrical circles (Q883682): Difference between revisions

Given three positive real numbers \(x\), \(y\), and \(z\), we are asked in [Zahlreich Problems Group, Problem 11057, Am. Math. Mon. 111, 64 (2004)] to find the maximum area that a rectangle \(ABCD\) with \(PA=x\), \(PB=y\), and \(PC=z\) can have. The paper under review solves this problem and shows that the maximum area is \(xz+yt\), where \(t > 0\) is given by \(x^2+z^2=y^2+t^2\). It also proves that the minimum area is \(| xz-yt| \). The proof is rather lengthy but it may have the merit of including various equivalent forms of the problem and another open problem for further investigation. The authors are clearly unaware of the short solution given in [Am. Math. Mon. 113, 82--83 (2006)]. In this solution, however, the answer \(xz+yt\) is erroneously written in two places as \(xz+t\).