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Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Bulgaria

Problem:

In an acute ABC\triangle ABC with CACBCA \neq CB and incenter OO denote by A1A_1 and B1B_1 the tangent points of its excircles to the sides CBCB and CACA, respectively. The line COCO meets the circumcircle of ABC\triangle ABC at point PP and the line through PP which is perpendicular to CPCP meets the line ABAB at point QQ. Prove that the lines QOQO and A1B1A_1B_1 are parallel.

Solution

Solution:

Let K=COABK = CO \cap AB and AKC =\text{AKC =}. Denote by MM and NN the intersection points of QOQO with CBCB and CACA, respectively. The Sine theorem for APQ\triangle APQ gives
AQPQ=sin(90+β)sinγ2=cosβsinγ2 \frac{AQ}{PQ} = \frac{\sin \left(90^\circ + \beta\right)}{\sin \frac{\gamma}{2}} = \frac{\cos \beta}{\sin \frac{\gamma}{2}}
From the right KPQ\triangle KPQ we find
KQPQ=1sinφ \frac{KQ}{PQ} = \frac{1}{\sin \varphi}
Hence
AQQK=cosβsinφsinγ2 \frac{AQ}{QK} = \frac{\cos \beta \sin \varphi}{\sin \frac{\gamma}{2}}

Figure 1

It follows from AKC\triangle AKC (AOAO is the bisector of KAC\text{KAC}) that
KOOC=AKAC=sinγ2sinφ \frac{KO}{OC} = \frac{AK}{AC} = \frac{\sin \frac{\gamma}{2}}{\sin \varphi}
On the other hand applying the Menelaus theorem for AKC\triangle AKC and the line OQOQ we get
AQQKKOOCCNNA=1 \frac{AQ}{QK} \cdot \frac{KO}{OC} \cdot \frac{CN}{NA} = 1
Now plugging (1) and (2) in (3) we obtain CNNA=1cosβ\frac{CN}{NA} = \frac{1}{\cos \beta}. Hence it follows that CNCA=11+cosβ\frac{CN}{CA} = \frac{1}{1 + \cos \beta}, i.e. CN=2Rsinβ2cos2β2=2Rtanβ2CN = \frac{2R \sin \beta}{2 \cos^2 \frac{\beta}{2}} = 2R \tan \frac{\beta}{2}.

Similarly, CM=2Rtanα2CM = 2R \tan \frac{\alpha}{2}. Therefore
CNCM=tanβ2tanα2 \frac{CN}{CM} = \frac{\tan \frac{\beta}{2}}{\tan \frac{\alpha}{2}}
It is well known that CB1=pa=rcotα2CB_1 = p - a = r \cot \frac{\alpha}{2} and CA1=pb=rcotβ2CA_1 = p - b = r \cot \frac{\beta}{2}. Hence using (4) we get
CB1CA1=cotα2cotβ2=tanβ2tanα2=CNCM \frac{CB_1}{CA_1} = \frac{\cot \frac{\alpha}{2}}{\cot \frac{\beta}{2}} = \frac{\tan \frac{\beta}{2}}{\tan \frac{\alpha}{2}} = \frac{CN}{CM}
Therefore A1B1MNA_1B_1 \parallel MN.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.