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Geometry Difficulty 8.8 Shortlist Prove it Germany

Problem:

Let ABCABC be a triangle with AB=ACBCAB = AC \neq BC. Furthermore, let II be the incenter of ABCABC.
The line BIBI intersects ACAC at the point DD, and the perpendicular to ACAC through DD intersects AIAI at the point EE. Prove that the reflection of II across the axis ACAC lies on the circumcircle of the triangle BDEBDE.

Solution

Solution:

First we prove (already using the notation appropriate to the problem) the following lemma: The perpendicular bisector of a side BIIBII' and the angle bisector through the third vertex DD intersect on the circumcircle of every non-isosceles triangle BIDBI'D. ("South Pole Theorem")

Proof of the lemma: Let MM be the center of the circumcircle of BIDBI'D and SS the intersection point of the angle bisector with the circumcircle different from DD. Then BMII\square BMI I', being a central angle, is twice as large as BDI\square BD I' and SDI\square SD I' is half as large as BDI\square BD I'. But since the perpendicular bisector of BIBI' bisects both arcs of the circumcircle belonging to this chord, it must pass through SS.

Corollary: Let the other intersection point of the perpendicular bisector of BIBI' with the circumcircle be EE. Then, by the lemma, DD lies on the Thales circle over ESES and we have EDS=90\square EDS = 90^\circ. Thus DEDE is the external bisector of BDI\square BDI'. The converse also holds: if for the point EE on the external bisector of BDI\square BDI' we also have BE=EIBE = EI', then EE lies on the circumcircle of BIDBI'D.

Figure 1

For the main proof we denote the reflection of II by II' and the second intersection point of AIAI with the circumcircle of the triangle ABDABD by DD'. Since ADAD' is the angle bisector of BAD\square BAD, DD' lies at the midpoint of the arc BDBD and so DD=BD=CDDD' = BD' = CD' holds.

Using the inscribed angle theorem over the chord ADAD as well as suitable angle bisectors, we obtain DDE=DDA=DBA=CBI=ICB\square DD'E = \square DD'A = \square DBA = \square CBI = \square ICB. Since DD', because of the equal distances, is the circumcenter of the triangle BCDBCD, we have EDD=90DDC=CBD=CBI\square EDD' = 90^\circ - \square D'DC = \square CBD = \square CBI, so, because CBI=ICB\square CBI = \square ICB, the triangles EDDED'D and IBCIBC are similar. From this it follows that BCCI=BCCI=DDDE=BDDE\frac{BC}{CI} = \frac{BC}{CI} = \frac{DD'}{D'E} = \frac{BD'}{D'E}.

Moreover, ICB=ACB+ICA=ACB+ACI=ACB+CBD=BDA=BDE\square I'CB = \square ACB + \square I'CA = \square ACB + \square ACI = \square ACB + \square CBD = \square BDA = \square BD'E holds, and therefore the triangles BCIBCI' and BDEBD'E are similar; likewise BCDBCD' and BIEBI'E are similar triangles, since under the spiral similarity about BB that carries BCIBCI' into BDEBD'E, CDCD' is carried into IEI'E.

But since BCDBCD' is isosceles, we also have BE=EIBE = EI'.

Now DEACDE \perp AC, and by the corollary EE lies on the circumcircle of the triangle BIDBI'D.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from de; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.