Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it India

Problem:
Let ABCDABCD be a convex quadrilateral. Let the diagonals ACAC and BDBD intersect in PP. Let PEPE, PFPF, PGPG and PHPH be the altitudes from PP onto the sides ABAB, BCBC, CDCD and DADA respectively. Show that ABCDABCD has an incircle if and only if
1PE+1PG=1PF+1PH \frac{1}{PE} + \frac{1}{PG} = \frac{1}{PF} + \frac{1}{PH}

Solution

Solution:
Let AP=pAP = p, BP=qBP = q, CP=rCP = r, DP=sDP = s; AB=aAB = a, BC=bBC = b, CD=cCD = c and DA=dDA = d. Let APB=CPD=θ\angle APB = \angle CPD = \theta. Then BPC=DPA=πθ\angle BPC = \angle DPA = \pi - \theta. Let us also write PE=h1PE = h_1, PF=h2PF = h_2, PG=h3PG = h_3 and PH=h4PH = h_4.

Figure 1

Observe that
h1a=pqsinθ,h2b=qrsinθ,h3c=rssinθ,h4d=spsinθ h_1 a = p q \sin \theta, \quad h_2 b = q r \sin \theta, \quad h_3 c = r s \sin \theta, \quad h_4 d = s p \sin \theta

Hence
1h1+1h3=1h2+1h4 \frac{1}{h_1} + \frac{1}{h_3} = \frac{1}{h_2} + \frac{1}{h_4}
is equivalent to
apq+crs=bqr+dsp \frac{a}{p q} + \frac{c}{r s} = \frac{b}{q r} + \frac{d}{s p}

This is the same as
ars+cpq=bsp+dqr a r s + c p q = b s p + d q r

Thus we have to prove that a+c=b+da + c = b + d if and only if ars+cpq=bsp+dqra r s + c p q = b s p + d q r. Now we can write a+c=b+da + c = b + d as
a2+c2+2ac=b2+d2+2bd a^2 + c^2 + 2 a c = b^2 + d^2 + 2 b d

But we know that
a2=p2+q22pqcosθ,c2=r2+s22rscosθb2=q2+r2+2qrcosθ,d2=p2+s2+2pscosθ \begin{aligned} & a^2 = p^2 + q^2 - 2 p q \cos \theta, \quad c^2 = r^2 + s^2 - 2 r s \cos \theta \\ & b^2 = q^2 + r^2 + 2 q r \cos \theta, \quad d^2 = p^2 + s^2 + 2 p s \cos \theta \end{aligned}

Hence a+c=b+da + c = b + d is equivalent to
pqcosθrscosθ+ac=pscosθ+qrcosθ+bd - p q \cos \theta - r s \cos \theta + a c = p s \cos \theta + q r \cos \theta + b d

Similarly, by squaring ars+cpq=bsp+dqra r s + c p q = b s p + d q r we can show that it is equivalent to
pqcosθrscosθ+ac=pscosθ+qrcosθ+bd - p q \cos \theta - r s \cos \theta + a c = p s \cos \theta + q r \cos \theta + b d

We conclude that a+c=b+da + c = b + d is equivalent to cpq+ars=bps+dqrc p q + a r s = b p s + d q r. Hence ABCDABCD has an incircle if and only if
1h1+1h3=1h2+1h4 \frac{1}{h_1} + \frac{1}{h_3} = \frac{1}{h_2} + \frac{1}{h_4}

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