Maths Olympiad Prep

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MMO Round 4

Geometry Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it Mongolia

Let KK and LL be points on side BCBC, MM a point on side ACAC, and NN a point on side ABAB of triangle ABCABC. These points are chosen such that △KMC∼△ABC\triangle KMC \sim \triangle ABC and △LBN∼△ABC\triangle LBN \sim \triangle ABC. Suppose that the segments NLNL and KMKM intersect at point PP inside triangle ABCABC. The circumcircle of triangle AMPAMP intersects the line CPCP again at point XX, and the circumcircle of triangle ANPANP intersects the line BPBP again at point YY. Prove that the points B,C,XB, C, X, and YY lie on the same circle.

Solution

Since △KMC∼△ABC\triangle KMC \sim \triangle ABC, we have ∠MKC=∠BAC\angle MKC = \angle BAC, so quadrilateral AMKBAMKB is cyclic. Hence we have, BC⋅KC=AC⋅MCBC \cdot KC = AC \cdot MC, and since AMPXAMPX is cyclic, we have AC⋅MC=XC⋅PCAC \cdot MC = XC \cdot PC.

Combining the two, we get XC⋅PC=BC⋅KCXC \cdot PC = BC \cdot KC, so quadrilateral BXPKBXPK is cyclic. Hence,
∠BXC=∠MKC=∠BAC. \angle BXC = \angle MKC = \angle BAC.
Similarly, we can show that ∠BYC=∠NLC=∠BAC\angle BYC = \angle NLC = \angle BAC, which implies that B,C,XB, C, X, and YY lie on a common circle.

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