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Geometry Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it Estonia

The orthocenter and the circumcenter of a non-equilateral triangle ABCABC are HH and OO, respectively. Let DD be the foot of the altitude dropped from the vertex AA of the triangle ABCABC. Prove that AHO=90\angle AHO = 90^\circ if and only if AHHD=2\frac{AH}{HD} = 2.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Let OO' be the other endpoint of the diameter of the circumcircle of the triangle ABCABC drawn from the vertex AA and let HH' be the reflection of the point HH through the line BCBC (Fig. 35). Then HD=HDHD = H'D, whence the condition AHHD=2\frac{AH}{HD} = 2 is equivalent to the condition AHAH=12=AOAO\frac{AH}{AH'} = \frac{1}{2} = \frac{AO}{AO'}. Thus AHHD=2\frac{AH}{HD} = 2 if and only if OHOHOH \parallel O'H'.

Figure 1

Figure 2

It is known that HH' lies on the circumcircle of the triangle ABCABC. Thus by Thales' theorem, AHO=90\angle AH'O' = 90^\circ. Hence the condition OHOHOH \parallel O'H' is equivalent to the condition AHO=90\angle AHO = 90^\circ. Consequently, AHHD=2\frac{AH}{HD} = 2 if and only if AHO=90\angle AHO = 90^\circ.

Solution 2

W.l.o.g., assume ACABAC \le AB. Let GG be the centroid of the triangle ABCABC and KK be the midpoint of the side BCBC (Fig. 36). Then AGGK=2\frac{AG}{GK} = 2. Thus AHHD=2\frac{AH}{HD} = 2 if and only if AHHD=AGGK\frac{AH}{HD} = \frac{AG}{GK}, which in turn is valid if and only if HGDKHG \parallel DK. The latter condition is equivalent to AHG=ADK=90\angle AHG = \angle ADK = 90^\circ. But H,GH, G and OO lie on the same line (Euler line). Thus AHG=90\angle AHG = 90^\circ if and only if AHO=90\angle AHO = 90^\circ. Hence AHHD=2\frac{AH}{HD} = 2 if and only if AHO=90\angle AHO = 90^\circ.

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