Olympiad Maths Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Belarus

Given the triangle ABCABC with AB=2ACAB = 2AC. If points MM and NN belong to the sides BCBC and ABAB, respectively, and the perimeter of the trapezoid CMNACMNA is the sum of the lengths of the sides ABAB and ACAC, construct MM using compasses and ruler.

(S. Mazanik)

Solution

MM is the intersection point of the line AC\ell \parallel AC passing through the intersection point of the bisector of the angle ACBACB and the side ABAB.

Let MM be the point we search for and NMACNM \parallel AC (see the Fig.).

Let P(CMNA)P(CMNA) denote the perimeter of the trapezoid CMNACMNA. Then P(CMNA)=AN+NM+MC+CAP(CMNA) = AN + NM + MC + CA and, by condition, P(CMNA)=AB+AC=AN+NB+ACP(CMNA) = AB + AC = AN + NB + AC, whence
NM+MC=NB.(1) NM + MC = NB. \quad (1)
Since MNACMN \parallel AC, the triangles NBMNBM and ABCABC are similar, so NB:NM=AB:AC=2NB : NM = AB : AC = 2, i.e., NB=2NMNB = 2NM. From (1) it follows that MC=MNMC = MN, hence, the triangle NMCNMC is isosceles. Therefore, MNC=MCN\angle MNC = \angle MCN. Since NMACNM \parallel AC, we have MNC=NCA\angle MNC = \angle NCA. Thus, MCN=NCA\angle MCN = \angle NCA, i.e., NCNC is the bisector of the angle ACBACB of the given triangle ABCABC.

Figure 1

The construction of the required point MM: draw the bisector of the angle ACBACB (the standard rule-compass construction) and let NN be the intersection point of this bisector and the side ABAB. Draw the line \ell passing through NN parallel to ACAC (the standard rule-compass construction). The required point MM is the intersection point of the line \ell and the side BCBC. Indeed, it is easy to see that the perimeter of the trapezoid ANMCANMC thus obtained is equal to the sum of the lengths of the sides ABAB and ACAC.

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