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Let $A$, $B$ two points with $distance(A, B)= 2d >0$. Let $m=mid(A, B)$. That is, $distance(A,m)=distance(B,m)=d$.

Define $L$ to be the line that passes through $m$ and which is perpendicular with $[A,B]$.

Let $P$ be the half-plan defined by $L$ and which contains $B$.

Are the following claims true (edited)?

Claim 1: Given any point $C \in P$, given any point $x \in [C, m]$, it holds that: $$distance(A, C)-distance(A, x) \geq distance(B, C) - distance(B, x)$$

Claim 2: Let $S=distance(C,X)$. Assume $S>0$. Is it true that

$$distance(A,C)−distance(A,x)≥(distance(B,C)−distance(B,x)) + f(S)$$ with $f(S)>0$. For example $f(S)=α.S$ with alpha>0 a constant.

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    I am confused, $x$ is defined in terms of $C$ and $C$ is defined in terms of $x$.2012-04-16
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    corrected. Thank you.2012-04-16

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My proof is not geometric at all. I suppose there should be a more elegant solution. As you can see in the figure, denote $E,F$ the projections of $A,B$ on the line $Cm$, and notice that $AE=AF=d$ and $mE=mF=a$. Denote $mC=z$ and $mX=y$. Then your inequality is equivalent to $$ \sqrt{(z+a)^2+d^2}-\sqrt{(z-a)^2+d^2}\geq \sqrt{(y+a)^2+d^2}-\sqrt{(y-a)^2+d^2} $$ This turns to $$ \frac{z}{ \sqrt{(z+a)^2+d^2}+\sqrt{(z-a)^2+d^2}}\geq \frac{y}{\sqrt{(y+a)^2+d^2}+\sqrt{(y-a)^2+d^2}}.$$

Denote $$ f(y)=\frac{y}{\sqrt{(y+a)^2+d^2}+\sqrt{(y-a)^2+d^2}}$$ Then it is enough to prove that this function is increasing (then $z \geq y$ finishes the proof). This function is increasing on $[0,\infty)$ because its derivative is positive. Maybe there is a proof without derivatives, but that's the first that came to my mind. enter image description here

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    Thank you for your help. Two questions: 1/ What happens if $C \in [m,F]$ ? does the solution work ? 2/ I didn't understand how did you obtain the second inequality (after "This turns to"). Thank you.2012-04-16
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    @user10753: If $C \in [m,F]$ the same formula works, because the terms are squared, so the minus doesn't count. You should try it. The second inequality is obtained using the formula $\sqrt{a}-\sqrt{b}=\frac{a-b}{\sqrt{a}+\sqrt{b}}$.2012-04-16
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    Perfect. Thank you. Actualy, I need the solution to prove something a little bit stronger: If we denote $S=distance(C,X)$, then $distance(A,C)−distance(A,x) \geq (distance(B,C)−distance(B,x)) - f(S)$ with $f(S)>0$ For example $f(S)= \alpha. S$ with $alpha>0$ a constant. Do you have a hint on how I can use your solution for this ? Thank you in advance for your help.2012-04-16
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    @user10753: the inequality you wrote is weaker, not stronger.2012-04-16
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    Right. I corrected the inequality in the question (Claim 2).2012-04-16
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    it is $+f(S)$ and not $-f(S)$2012-04-16
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    @user10753: You should try the same approach I did. The computations are not very different.2012-04-16
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    I get $f(z) \geq f(y) + g(S)$. But proving that $f$ is increasing does not suffice in this case.2012-04-16
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    Looking at the graph of the function $$ x\mapsto\sqrt{x^2+d^2}\qquad(-\infty (a hyperbola) one immediately sees that $$ \Bigl|\sqrt{(z+a)^2+d^2}-\sqrt{(z-a)^2+d^2}\Bigr|\geq \Bigl|\sqrt{(y+a)^2+d^2}-\sqrt{(y-a)^2+d^2}\Bigr| $$ when $|z|\geq |y|$.2012-04-16