Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /6 of 158

Geometry Difficulty 4.5 AIME Prove it Estonia

The circumcentre of an acute triangle ABCABC is OO. Line ACAC intersects the circumcircle of AOBAOB at a point XX, in addition to the vertex AA. Prove that the line XOXO is perpendicular to the line BCBC.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

By the properties of inscribed angles CXO=ABO\angle CXO = \angle ABO (Fig. 8) independent of whether the point XX lies on the side CACA or on the extension of CACA over AA. Since OO is the circumcentre of ABCABC, we have ABO=BAO\angle ABO = \angle BAO. Let the intersection of lines XOXO and BCBC be YY and let the point on the circumcircle of ABCABC lying diametrically opposite AA be ZZ. Since CXY=ZAB\angle CXY = \angle ZAB, and YCX=BZA\angle YCX = \angle BZA as inscribed angles subtending the same arc ABAB, the triangles CXYCXY and ZABZAB are similar. Hence CYX=ZBA=90\angle CYX = \angle ZBA = 90^\circ, as ZBA\angle ZBA is subtended by a diameter.

Figure 1
Fig. 8

Solution 2

Obviously OBC=OCB\angle OBC = \angle OCB. If XX lies on segment ACAC (Fig. 9), then OBX=OAX=OAC=OCA\angle OBX = \angle OAX = \angle OAC = \angle OCA. If XX lies on the extension of ACAC over AA, then OBX=180OAX=OAC=OCA\angle OBX = 180^\circ - \angle OAX = \angle OAC = \angle OCA. In both cases we have OBX=OCA\angle OBX = \angle OCA and XBC=OBX+OBC=OCA+OCB=ACB=XCB\angle XBC = \angle OBX + \angle OBC = \angle OCA + \angle OCB = \angle ACB = \angle XCB. Therefore XBCXBC is an isosceles triangle with the apex XX, hence XX lies on the perpendicular bisector of BCBC. Since OO lies on the same line, the line XOXO is the perpendicular bisector of the side BCBC.

Figure 2
Fig. 9

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 reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.