Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / Balkan Mathematical Olympiad /3 of 6

Balkan Mathematical Olympiad

Geometry Difficulty 6.0 National Olympiad Prove it JBMO

Problem:
Let ABCABC be an acute triangle with circumcenter OO. Let DD be the foot of the altitude from AA to BCBC and let MM be the midpoint of ODOD. The points ObO_{b} and OcO_{c} are the circumcenters of triangles AOCAOC and AOBAOB, respectively. If AO=ADAO = AD, prove that the points AA, ObO_{b}, MM and OcO_{c} are concyclic.

Solution

Solution:
Figure 1
Note that AB=ACAB = AC cannot hold since AO=ADAO = AD would imply that OO is the midpoint of BCBC, which is not possible for an acute triangle. So we may assume without loss of generality that AB<ACAB < AC.
Let MbM_{b} and McM_{c} be the midpoints of ACAC and ABAB, respectively. Since ∠AMbO=∠AMcO=90∘=∠AMO\angle AM_{b}O = \angle AM_{c}O = 90^{\circ} = \angle AMO (the latter since AO=ADAO = AD), the pentagon AMbOMMcAM_{b}OMM_{c} is cyclic.

Next, notice that AMAM is the perpendicular bisector of ODOD, ObOcO_{b}O_{c} is the perpendicular bisector of AOAO and MbMcM_{b}M_{c} is the perpendicular bisector of ADAD. Hence these three lines are concurrent - denote their common point by TT.

The quadrilateral AObMOcAO_{b}MO_{c} is cyclic if and only if AT⋅TM=ObT⋅OcTAT \cdot TM = O_{b}T \cdot O_{c}T. From the cyclic AMbMMcAM_{b}MM_{c} we have AT⋅TM=MbT⋅McTAT \cdot TM = M_{b}T \cdot M_{c}T. Hence it now suffices to argue MbT⋅McT=ObT⋅OcTM_{b}T \cdot M_{c}T = O_{b}T \cdot O_{c}T - or equivalently, that MbM_{b}, McM_{c}, ObO_{b} and OcO_{c} are concyclic.

We assume that ∠AOB<90∘\angle AOB < 90^{\circ} and ∠AOC>90∘\angle AOC > 90^{\circ} so that OcO_{c} is in the interior of triangle AOBAOB and ObO_{b} is external to the triangle AOCAOC (the other cases are analogous and if ∠AOB=90∘\angle AOB = 90^{\circ} or ∠AOC=90∘\angle AOC = 90^{\circ}, then Mb≡ObM_{b} \equiv O_{b} or Mc≡OcM_{c} \equiv O_{c} and we are automatically done). We have
∠McMbOb=90∘+∠AMbMc=90∘+∠ACB \angle M_{c}M_{b}O_{b} = 90^{\circ} + \angle AM_{b}M_{c} = 90^{\circ} + \angle ACB
as well as (since OcObO_{c}O_{b} is a perpendicular bisector of AOAO and hence bisects ∠AOcO\angle AO_{c}O)
∠McOcOb=180∘−∠OOcOb=90∘+∠AOcMc2 \angle M_{c}O_{c}O_{b} = 180^{\circ} - \angle OO_{c}O_{b} = 90^{\circ} + \frac{\angle AO_{c}M_{c}}{2}
=90∘+∠AOcB4=90∘+∠AOB2=90∘+∠ACB = 90^{\circ} + \frac{\angle AO_{c}B}{4} = 90^{\circ} + \frac{\angle AOB}{2} = 90^{\circ} + \angle ACB
and therefore ObMbOcMcO_{b}M_{b}O_{c}M_{c} is cyclic, as desired.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,604 problems in a working order, from Junior Challenge level to the IMO shortlist.

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