Question:
If the centroid of the triangle formed by points P (a, b), Q(b, c) and R (c, a) is at the origin, what is the value of a + b + c?
Solution:
The co-ordinates of the vertices are (a, b); (b, c) and (c, a)
The co-ordinate of the centroid is (0, 0)
We know that the co-ordinates of the centroid of a triangle whose vertices are $\left(x_{1}, y_{1}\right),\left(x_{2}, y_{2}\right),\left(x_{3}, y_{3}\right)$ is-
$\left(\frac{x_{1}+x_{2}+x_{3}}{3}, \frac{y_{1}+y_{2}+y_{3}}{3}\right)$
So,
$(0,0)=\left(\frac{a+b+c}{3}, \frac{b+c+a}{3}\right)$
Compare individual terms on both the sides-
$\frac{a+b+c}{3}=0$
Therefore,
$a+b+c=0$