Important Formulae & Rules- Part

Arithmetic-Geometric Means Inequality

If n is a positive integer and
are non-negative real numbers, then
with equality if and only if
mean inequality.
Arithmetic-Harmonic Means Inequality
If
are positive numbers, then

. This inequality is a special case of the power

with equality if and only if

mean inequality.
Binomial Coefficient

. This inequality is a special case of the power

the coefficient of in the expansion of

Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality
For any real numbers
and
with equality if and only if and are proportional,
Ceva's Theorem and Its Trigonometric Form
Let AD, BE, CF be three cevians of triangle ABC. The following are equivalent:
AD,BE,CF are concurrent;

Cevian
A cevian of a triangle is any segment joining a vertex to a point on the opposite side.
Chebyshev's Inequality
Let
and
be two sequences of real numbers such that
and
Then
Let

and
and

be two sequences of real numbers such that

Then

Chebyshev Polynomials
Let
be the sequence of polynomials such that
for all positive integers i. The polynomial
Chebyshev polynomial.
Circumcenter
The center of the circumscribed circle or sphere.
Circumcircle

and
is called the nth

A circumscribed circle.
Convexity
A function
is concave up (down) on
and
for all

if

lies under (over) the line connecting

Concave up and down functions are also called convex and concave, respectively. If f is concave
up on an interval
and
are nonnegative numbers with sum equal to 1, then
for any
in the interval
. If the function is concave down, the inequality is
reversed. This is Jensen's inequality.
Cyclic Sum
Let n be a positive integer. Given a function f of n variables, define the cyclic sum of variables
as
De Moivre's Formula
For any angle and for any integer n,
From this formula, we can easily derive the expansion formulas of
and
in terms of
and
Euler's Formula (in Plane Geometry)
Let O and I be the circumcenter and incenter, respectively, of a triangle with circumradius R and
inradius r. Then
Excircles, or Escribed Circles
Given a triangle ABC, there are four circles tangent to the lines AB, BC, CA. One is the
inscribed circle, which lies in the interior of the triangle. One lies on the opposite side of line BC
from A, and is called the excircle (escribed circle) opposite A, and similarly for the other two
sides. The excenter opposite A is the center of the excircle opposite A; it lies on the internal angle
bisector of A and the external angle bisectors of B and C.
Extended Law of Sines
In a triangle ABC with circumradius equal to R,
Gauss's Lemma
Let
be a polynomial with integer coefficients. All the rational roots (if there are any) of
can be
written in the reduced form , where m and n are divisors of and , respectively.
Gergonne Point
If the incircle of triangle ABC touches sides AB, BC and CA at F, D and E then lines AD, BE and
CF are concurrent, and the point of concurrency is called the Gergonne point of the triangle.
Heron's Formula
The area of a triangle ABC with sides a, b, c is equal to
where
Homothety

is the semi-perimeter of the triangle.

Ahomothety (central similarity) is a transformation that fixes one point O (its center) and maps
each point P to a point P' for which O, P, P' are collinear and the ratio |OP| : |OP'| = k is constant
(k can be either positive or negative); k is called the magnitude of the homothety.
Homothetic Triangles
Two triangles ABC and DEF are homothetic if they have parallel sides. Suppose that AB||DE,
BC||EF, and CA||FD. Then lines AD, BE and CF concur at a point X, as given by a special case
of Desargues's theorem. Furthermore, some homothety centered at X maps triangle ABC onto
triangle DEF.
Incenter
The center of an inscribed circle.
Incircle
An inscribed circle.
Kite
A quadrilateral with its sides forming two pairs of congruent adjacent sides. A kite is symmetric
with one of its diagonals. (If it is symmetric with both diagonals, it becomes a rhombus.) The
two diagonals of a kite are perpendicular to each other. For example, if ABCD is a quadrilateral
with |AB|=|AD| and |CB|=|CD|, then ABCD is a kite, and it is symmetric with respect to the
diagonal AC.
Lagrange's Interpolation Formula
Let
be distinct real numbers, and let
be arbitrary real numbers. Then
there exists a unique polynomial
of degree at most n such that
This polynomial is given by
Law of Cosines
In a triangle ABC,
and analogous equations hold for
and
.
Median formula
This is also called the length of the median formula. Let AM be a median in triangle ABC. Then
Minimal Polynomial
We call a polynomial p(x) with integer coefficients irreducible if p(x) cannot be written as a
product of two polynomials with integer coefficients neither of which is a constant. Suppose that
the number is a root of a polynomial q(x) with integer coefficients. Among all polynomials with
integer coefficients with leading coefficient 1 (i.e., monic polynomials with integer coefficients)
that have as a root, there is one of smallest degree. This polynomial is the minimal polynomial
of Let p(x) denote this polynomial. Then p(x) is irreducible, and for any other polynomial q(x)
with integer coefficients such that
the polynomial p(x) divides q(x); that is, q(x) =
p(x)h(x) for some polynomial h(x) with integer coefficients.
Orthocenter of a Triangle
The point of intersection of the altitudes.
Periodic Function
A function f (x) is periodic with period T > 0 if T is the smallest positive real number for which
for all x.
Pigeonhole Principle

If n objects are distributed among k < n boxes, some box contains at least two objects.
Power Mean Inequality
Let
be any positive numbers for which
For positive
numbers
we define

where t is a non-zero real number. Then

for
Rearrangement Inequality
Let
of
Then

be real numbers, and let

be any permutations

with equality if and only if

or
Root Mean Square-Arithmetic Mean Inequality
For positive numbers
The inequality is a special case of the power mean inequality.
Schur's Inequality
Let x, y, z be non-negative real numbers. Then for any r > 0,
Equality holds if and only if x = y = z or if two of x, y, z are equal and the third is equal to 0.
The proof of the inequality is rather simple. Because the inequality is symmetric in the three
variables, we may assume without loss of generality that
Then the given inequality may
be rewritten as
and every term on the left-hand side is clearly nonnegative. The first term is positive if x > y, so
equality requires x = y, as well as
which gives either
or
Sector
The region enclosed by a circle and two radii of the circle.
Stewart's Theorem
In a triangle ABC with cevian AD, write a = |BC|, b = |CA|, c = |AB|, m = |BD|, n = |DC|, and d =
|AD|. Then
This formula can be used to express the lengths of the altitudes and angle bisectors of a triangle
in terms of its side lengths.
Trigonometric Identities

Addition and Subtraction Formulas:

Double-Angle Formulas:

Triple-Angle Formulas:

Half-Angle Formulas:

Sum-to-Product Formulas:

Difference-to-Product Formulas:

Product-to-Sum Formulas:

Vite's Theorem
Let
be the roots of polynomial
where
Then
that is,

and

Let

be the sum of the products of the

taken k at a time.