Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 6.8 National Olympiad Prove it JBMO

Problem:

Given a parallelogram ABCDABCD. The line perpendicular to ACAC passing through CC and the line perpendicular to BDBD passing through AA intersect at point PP. The circle centered at point PP and radius PCPC intersects the line BCBC at point XX (XCX \neq C) and the line DCDC at point YY (YCY \neq C). Prove that the line AXAX passes through the point YY.

Solution

Solution:

Denote the feet of the perpendiculars from PP to the lines BCBC and DCDC by MM and NN respectively and let O=ACBDO = AC \cap BD. Since the points OO, MM and NN are midpoints of CACA, CXCX and CYCY respectively, it suffices to prove that MM, NN and OO are collinear. According to Menelaus's theorem for BCD\triangle BCD and points MM, NN and OO we have to prove that

Figure 1

BMMCCNNDDOOB=1 \frac{BM}{MC} \cdot \frac{CN}{ND} \cdot \frac{DO}{OB} = 1

Since DO=OBDO = OB the above simplifies to BMCM=DNCN\frac{BM}{CM} = \frac{DN}{CN}. It follows from BM=BC+CMBM = BC + CM and DN=DCCN=ABCNDN = DC - CN = AB - CN that the last equality is equivalent to:
BCCM+2=ABCN \frac{BC}{CM} + 2 = \frac{AB}{CN}
Denote by SS the foot of the perpendicular from BB to ACAC. Since BCS=CPM=φ\angle BCS = \angle CPM = \varphi and BAC=ACD=CPN=ψ\angle BAC = \angle ACD = \angle CPN = \psi we conclude that CBSPCM\triangle CBS \sim \triangle PCM and ABSPCN\triangle ABS \sim \triangle PCN. Therefore
CMBS=CPBC and CNBS=CPAB \frac{CM}{BS} = \frac{CP}{BC} \text{ and } \frac{CN}{BS} = \frac{CP}{AB}
and thus,
CM=CPBSBC and CN=CPBSAB CM = \frac{CP \cdot BS}{BC} \text{ and } CN = \frac{CP \cdot BS}{AB}
Now equality (1) becomes AB2BC2=2CPBSAB^2 - BC^2 = 2CP \cdot BS. It follows from
AB2BC2=AS2CS2=(ASCS)(AS+CS)=2OSAC AB^2 - BC^2 = AS^2 - CS^2 = (AS - CS)(AS + CS) = 2OS \cdot AC
that
DC2BC2=2CPBS2OSAC=2CPBSOSAC=CPBS. DC^2 - BC^2 = 2CP \cdot BS \Longleftrightarrow 2OS \cdot AC = 2CP \cdot BS \Longleftrightarrow OS \cdot AC = CP \cdot BS.
Since ACP=BSO=90\angle ACP = \angle BSO = 90^\circ and CAP=SBO\angle CAP = \angle SBO we conclude that ACPBSO\triangle ACP \sim \triangle BSO. This implies OSAC=CPBSOS \cdot AC = CP \cdot BS, which completes the proof.

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