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Taiwan IMO Selection Camp, 2021

Geometry Difficulty 6.8 National Olympiad Prove it Taiwan

Let Γ\Gamma and II be the circumcircle and the incenter of an acute-angled triangle ABCABC. Two circles ωB\omega_B and ωC\omega_C passing through BB and CC, respectively, are tangent at II. Let ωB\omega_B meet the shorter arc ABAB of Γ\Gamma and segment ABAB again at PP and MM, respectively. Similarly, let ωC\omega_C meet the shorter arc ACAC of Γ\Gamma and segment ACAC again at QQ and NN, respectively. The rays PMPM and QNQN meet at XX, and the tangents to ωB\omega_B and ωC\omega_C at BB and CC, respectively, meet at YY.
Prove that the points A,X,and YA, X, \text{and } Y are collinear.

Solution

Let AI,BIAI, BI, and CICI meet Γ\Gamma again at D,ED, E, and FF, respectively. Let ℓ\ell be the common tangent to ωB\omega_B and ωC\omega_C at II. We always denote by ∠(p,q)\angle(p, q) the directed angle from a line pp to a line qq, taken modulo 180∘180^\circ.

*Step 1: We show that YY lies on Γ\Gamma.*
Recall that any chord of a circle makes complementary directed angles with the tangents to the circle at its endpoints. Hence
∠(BY,BI)+∠(CI,CY)=∠(IB,ℓ)+∠(ℓ,IC)=∠(IB,IC). \angle(BY, BI) + \angle(CI, CY) = \angle(IB, \ell) + \angle(\ell, IC) = \angle(IB, IC).
Therefore,
∠(BY,BA)+∠(CA,CY)=∠(BI,BA)+∠(BY,BI)+∠(CI,CY)+∠(CA,CI)=∠(BC,BI)+∠(IB,IC)+∠(CI,CB)=0, \begin{aligned} \angle(BY, BA) + \angle(CA, CY) &= \angle(BI, BA) + \angle(BY, BI) + \angle(CI, CY) + \angle(CA, CI) \\ &= \angle(BC, BI) + \angle(IB, IC) + \angle(CI, CB) = 0, \end{aligned}
which yields Y∈ΓY \in \Gamma.

Let X∗=ℓ∩EFX_* = \ell \cap EF. To prove our claim, it suffices to show that X∗X_* lies on both PMPM and QNQN; this will yield X∗=XX_* = X. Due to symmetry, it suffices to show X∗∈QNX_* \in QN.
Notice that
∠(IX∗,IQ)=∠(CI,CQ)=∠(CF,CQ)=∠(EF,EQ)=∠(EX∗,EQ); \angle(IX_*, IQ) = \angle(CI, CQ) = \angle(CF, CQ) = \angle(EF, EQ) = \angle(EX_*, EQ);
therefore, the points X∗,I,QX_*, I, Q, and EE are concyclic (if Q=EQ = E, then the direction of EQEQ is supposed to be the direction of a tangent to Γ\Gamma at QQ; in this case, the equality means that the circle (X∗IQX_*IQ) is tangent to Γ\Gamma at QQ). Then we have
∠(QX∗,QI)=∠(EX∗,EI)=∠(EF,EB)=∠(CA,CF)=∠(CN,CI)=∠(QN,QI), \angle(QX_*, QI) = \angle(EX_*, EI) = \angle(EF, EB) = \angle(CA, CF) = \angle(CN, CI) = \angle(QN, QI),

Step 3: We finally show that A, X, and Y are collinear.
Recall that II is the orthocenter of triangle DEFDEF, and AA is symmetric to II with respect to EFEF. Therefore,
∠(AX,AE)=∠(IE,IX)=∠(BI,ℓ)=∠(BY,BI)=∠(BY,BE)=∠(AY,AE), \angle(AX, AE) = \angle(IE, IX) = \angle(BI, \ell) = \angle(BY, BI) = \angle(BY, BE) = \angle(AY, AE),
which yields the desired collinearity.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from zh; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.