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Geometry Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it Romania

Let ABCABC and DEFDEF be two congruent equilateral triangles, centered at O1O_1 and O2O_2, respectively, such that segment ABAB meets segments DEDE and DFDF at MM and NN, respectively, and segment ACAC meets segments DFDF and EFEF at PP and QQ, respectively. The bisectors of angles EMNEMN and DPQDPQ meet at II, and the bisectors of angles FNMFNM and EQPEQP meet at JJ. Prove that IJIJ is the perpendicular bisector of the segment O1O2O_1O_2.
Bogdan Maxim

Solution

Denote by C1C_1 and C2C_2 the circumcircles of the triangles ABCABC and DEFDEF, respectively.
Since PAM=PDM=60\angle PAM = \angle PDM = 60^\circ, the quadrilateral APMDAPMD is cyclic, so APD=AMD=x\angle APD = \angle AMD = x^\circ.

Looking at the quadrilateral APIMAPIM we have: PIM=360MAPAMIAPI\angle PIM = 360^\circ - \angle MAP - \angle AMI - \angle API, so PIM=360602180x2x=120\angle PIM = 360^\circ - 60^\circ - 2 \cdot \frac{180^\circ - x^\circ}{2} - x^\circ = 120^\circ.
Since PIM=180PAM\angle PIM = 180^\circ - \angle PAM, we infer that APIMAPIM is a cyclic quadrilateral, so ADIPADIP and ADMIADMI are cyclic too.

Figure 1

It follows that DAI=DPI=180x2\angle DAI = \angle DPI = \frac{180^\circ - x^\circ}{2} and ADI=AMI=180x2\angle ADI = \angle AMI = \frac{180^\circ - x^\circ}{2}.
Subsequently, ADI=DAI\angle ADI = \angle DAI, so AI=DIAI = DI.
Let AA' be the second intersection point of AIAI and C1C_1 and DD' be the second intersection point of DIDI and C2C_2.
Since ADIPADIP is cyclic, it follows that IAP=IDP\angle IAP = \angle IDP, so the arc ACA'C from the circle C1C_1 and the arc DFD'F from the circle C2C_2 have the same measure. Since the minor arcs ACAC and DFDF from the two circles are congruent, each having 120120^\circ, it follows that the arcs ACAACA' (in the circle C1C_1) and DFDDFD' (in the circle C2C_2) have the same measure, so AA=DDAA' = DD'.

From here, we obtain AI=AAAI=DDDI=DIA'I = AA' - AI = DD' - DI = D'I, so IAIA=IDIDIA \cdot IA' = ID \cdot ID', which means that the power of the point II with respect to the circle C1C_1 is equal to the power of II with respect to C2C_2. Hence, II belongs to the radical axis UVUV of these two circles.
Analogously, we prove that JUVJ \in UV, so the lines UVUV and IJIJ coincide. Hence, IJIJ is the radical axis of the circles C1(O1)C_1(O_1) and C2(O2)C_2(O_2), therefore is the perpendicular bisector of O1O2O_1O_2.

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