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Prove that the sum of the three altitudes of a triangle is less than the sum of three sides of a triangle.
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Let "a", "b" and "c" be the lengths of the three sides of the triangle.
Let f, g and h be the altitudes of the triangle, drawn to the sides "a", "b" and "c", respectively.
Then we have
f <= b and f <= c; (1)
so 2f <= b+c, which means f <=
. (2)
Notice that of the two inequalities (1), at least one inequality is the STRICT inequality;
therefore, the final inequality (2) is the STRICT inequality, too,
so we can write instead of (2) strict inequality
f <
. (3)
Similarly to inequality (3), we can prove the following two inequalities
g <
, (4)
h <
. (5)
Now add inequalities (3), (4) and (5). You will get
f + g + h <
,
or
f + g + h < a + b + c.
It is exactly what should be proved.
The solution is just completed.