Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 7.2 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it JBMO

Problem:
Let ABCABC be an acute-angled triangle with circumcircle Γ\Gamma, and let O,HO, H be the triangle's circumcenter and orthocenter respectively. Let also AA' be the point where the angle bisector of angle BACBAC meets Γ\Gamma. If AH=AHA'H = AH, find the measure of angle BACBAC.

Figure 1
Figure 4: Exercise G4.

Solution

Solution:
The segment AAAA' bisects OAH\angle OAH: if BCA=y\angle BCA = y (Figure 4), then BOA=2y\angle BOA = 2y, and since OA=OBOA = OB, it is OAB=OBA=90y\angle OAB = \angle OBA = 90^{\circ} - y. Also since AHBCAH \perp BC, it is
HAC=90y=OAB\angle HAC = 90^{\circ} - y = \angle OAB and the claim follows.

Since AAAA' bisects OAH\angle OAH and AH=AHA'H = AH, OA=OAOA' = OA, we have that the isosceles triangles OAAOAA', HAAHAA' are equal. Thus
AH=OA=R AH = OA = R
where RR is the circumradius of triangle ABCABC.

Call ACH=a\angle ACH = a and recall by the law of sines that AH=2RsinaAH = 2R' \sin a, where RR' is the circumradius of triangle AHCAHC. Then (4) implies
R=2Rsina R = 2R' \sin a
But notice that R=RR = R' because ACsin(AHC)=2R\frac{AC}{\sin(AHC)} = 2R', ACsin(ABC)=2R\frac{AC}{\sin(ABC)} = 2R and sin(AHC)=sin(180ABC)=sin(ABC)\sin(AHC) = \sin\left(180^{\circ} - ABC\right) = \sin(ABC). So (5) gives 1=2sina1 = 2\sin a, and aa as an acute angle can only be 3030^{\circ}. Finally, BAC=90a=60\angle BAC = 90^{\circ} - a = 60^{\circ}.

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