Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2014

Geometry Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Canada

The quadrilateral ABCDABCD is inscribed in a circle. The point PP lies in the interior of ABCDABCD, and PAB=PBC=PCD=PDA\angle PAB = \angle PBC = \angle PCD = \angle PDA. The lines ADAD and BCBC meet at QQ, and the lines ABAB and CDCD meet at RR. Prove that the lines PQPQ and PRPR form the same angle as the diagonals of ABCDABCD.

Solution

Let Γ\Gamma be the circumcircle of quadrilateral ABCDABCD. Let α=PAB=PBC=PCD=PDA\alpha = \angle PAB = \angle PBC = \angle PCD = \angle PDA and let T1,T2,T3T_1, T_2, T_3 and T4T_4 denote the circumcircles of triangles APDAPD, BPCBPC, APBAPB and CPDCPD, respectively. Let MM be the intersection of T1T_1 with line RPRP and let NN be the intersection of T3T_3 with line SPSP. Also let XX denote the intersection of diagonals ACAC and BDBD.

By power of a point for circles T1T_1 and Γ\Gamma, it follows that RMRP=RARD=RBRCRM \cdot RP = RA \cdot RD = RB \cdot RC which implies that the quadrilateral BMPCBMPC is cyclic and MM lies on T2T_2. Therefore PMB=PCB=α=PAB=DMP\angle PMB = \angle PCB = \alpha = \angle PAB = \angle DMP where all angles are directed. This implies that MM lies on the diagonal BDBD and also that XMP=DMP=α\angle XMP = \angle DMP = \alpha. By a symmetric argument applied to SS, T3T_3 and T4T_4, it follows that NN lies on T4T_4 and that NN lies on diagonal ACAC with XNP=α\angle XNP = \alpha. Therefore XMP=XNP\angle XMP = \angle XNP and X,M,PX, M, P and NN are concyclic. This implies that the angle formed by lines MPMP and NPNP is equal to one of the angles formed by lines MXMX and NXNX. The fact that MM lies on BDBD and RPRP and NN lies on ACAC and SPSP now implies the desired result.

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