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Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Let ABCABC be a triangle with incenter II. Points KK and LL are chosen on segment BCBC such that the incircles of ABK\triangle ABK and ABL\triangle ABL are tangent at PP, and the incircles of ACK\triangle ACK and ACL\triangle ACL are tangent at QQ. Prove that IP=IQIP = IQ.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Let IB,JB,IC,JCI_B, J_B, I_C, J_C be the incenters of ABK\triangle ABK, ABL\triangle ABL, ACK\triangle ACK, ACL\triangle ACL respectively.

Figure 1

We begin with the following claim which does not depend on the existence of tangency points PP and QQ.
Claim — Lines BCBC, IBJCI_BJ_C, JBICICJ_BI_CI_C meet at a point RR (possibly at infinity).
Proof. Note that
(BI;IBJB)=sinIBABsinIBAI÷sinJBABsinJBAI=sin12BAKsin12CAK÷sin12BALsin12CAL. (BI; I_BJ_B) = \frac{\sin \angle I_BAB}{\sin \angle I_BAI} \div \frac{\sin \angle J_BAB}{\sin \angle J_BAI} = \frac{\sin \frac{1}{2}\angle BAK}{\sin \frac{1}{2}\angle CAK} \div \frac{\sin \frac{1}{2}\angle BAL}{\sin \frac{1}{2}\angle CAL}.
Similarly
(CI;JCICIC)=sinJCACsinJCAI÷sinICACsinICAI=sin12CALsin12BAL÷sin12CAKsin12BAK. (CI; J_CI_CI_C) = \frac{\sin \angle J_CAC}{\sin \angle J_CAI} \div \frac{\sin \angle I_CAC}{\sin \angle I_CAI} = \frac{\sin \frac{1}{2}\angle CAL}{\sin \frac{1}{2}\angle BAL} \div \frac{\sin \frac{1}{2}\angle CAK}{\sin \frac{1}{2}\angle BAK}.
Thus the cross ratios are equal. Therefore, the concurrence follows from the so-called prism lemma on IBIBJB\overline{IBI_BJ_B} and ICJCICIC\overline{ICJ_CI_CI_C}. \square

Claim — Line PQPQ also passes through RR.
Proof. Note (BP;IBJB)=1=(CQ;JCICIC)(BP; I_BJ_B) = -1 = (CQ; J_CI_CI_C), so the conclusion again follows by prism lemma. \square

Solution 2

As above, the lines BCBC, IBJCI_B J_C, JBICJ_B I_C meet at some point RR (possibly at infinity). Let ω1,ω2,ω3,ω4\omega_1, \omega_2, \omega_3, \omega_4 be the incircles of ABK\triangle ABK, ACL\triangle ACL, ABL\triangle ABL, and ACK\triangle ACK.
Claim — There exists an inversion ι\iota at RR swapping {ω1,ω2}\{\omega_1, \omega_2\} and {ω3,ω4}\{\omega_3, \omega_4\}.
Proof. Consider the inversion at RR swapping ω1\omega_1 and ω2\omega_2. Since ω1\omega_1 and ω3\omega_3 are tangent, the image of ω3\omega_3 is tangent to ω2\omega_2 and is also tangent to BCBC. The circle ω4\omega_4 is on the correct side of ω3\omega_3 to be this image. \square
Claim — Circles ω1,ω2,ω3,ω4\omega_1, \omega_2, \omega_3, \omega_4 share a common radical center.
Proof. Let Ω\Omega be the circle with center RR fixed under ι\iota, and let kk be the circle through PP centered at the radical center of Ω\Omega, ω1,ω3\omega_1, \omega_3.
Then kk is actually orthogonal to Ω\Omega, ω1,ω3\omega_1, \omega_3, so kk is fixed under ι\iota and kk is also orthogonal to ω2\omega_2 and ω4\omega_4. Thus the center of kk is the desired radical center. \square
The desired statement immediately follows. Indeed, letting SS be the radical center, it follows that SP\overline{SP} and SQ\overline{SQ} are the common internal tangents to {ω1,ω3}\{\omega_1, \omega_3\} and {ω2,ω4}\{\omega_2, \omega_4\}.
Since SS is the radical center, SP=SQSP = SQ. In light of SPI=SQI=90\angle SPI = \angle SQI = 90^\circ, it follows that IP=IQIP = IQ, as desired.

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