Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /2 of 5

, 2019

Geometry Difficulty 6.5 National olympiad Prove it Netherlands

Points AA, BB, and CC lie on a circle with centre MM. The reflection of point MM in the line ABAB lies inside triangle ABCABC and is the intersection of the angular bisectors of angles AA and BB. (The angular bisector of an angle is the line that divides the angle into two equal angles.) Line AMAM intersects the circle again in point DD.
Show that CACD=ABAM|CA| \cdot |CD| = |AB| \cdot |AM|.

Solution

Let II be the reflection of point MM in the line ABAB. We define α=CAI\alpha = \angle CAI and β=CBI\beta = \angle CBI. Since AIAI is the angular bisector of CAB\angle CAB, we find that IAB=α\angle IAB = \alpha. Since II is the reflection of MM in the line ABAB, we find that BAM=α\angle BAM = \alpha. Triangle AMCAMC is isosceles with apex MM, because AM=CM|AM| = |CM|. Hence, we see that MCA=CAM=3α\angle MCA = \angle CAM = 3\alpha. In the same way, we see that IBA=ABM=β\angle IBA = \angle ABM = \beta and MCB=3β\angle MCB = 3\beta. The sum of the angles of triangle ABCABC is therefore 2α+(3α+3β)+2β=1802\alpha+(3\alpha+3\beta)+2\beta = 180^\circ. From this, we conclude that α+β=1805=36\alpha+\beta = \frac{180^\circ}{5} = 36^\circ, and hence that ACB=3α+3β=336=108\angle ACB = 3\alpha+3\beta = 3 \cdot 36^\circ = 108^\circ.

Figure 1

Since MABMAB is an isosceles triangle (as AM=BM|AM| = |BM|), we see that α=β=18\alpha = \beta = 18^\circ. It follows from this that CAB=2α=ABC\angle CAB = 2\alpha = \angle ABC and therefore that triangle ACBACB is isosceles. By considering the sum of the angles in triangle AMCAMC, we find that AMC=1806α=72\angle AMC = 180^\circ - 6\alpha = 72^\circ. Hence we also find that CMD=180AMC=108\angle CMD = 180^\circ - \angle AMC = 108^\circ. We have already seen that ACB=108\angle ACB = 108^\circ. It follows that triangles ACBACB and CMDCMD are both isosceles triangles with an angle of 108108^\circ at the apex. Hence, they are similar triangles. This implies that CMCD=ACAB\frac{|CM|}{|CD|} = \frac{|AC|}{|AB|}. By multiplying by both denominators and observing that CM=AM|CM| = |AM|, we obtain the required result.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.