Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /16 of 19

Geometry Difficulty 6.6 National Olympiad Prove it New Zealand

Problem:

Let ABCABC be an acute scalene triangle with AC>BC>ABAC > BC > AB. Let the orthocentre be HH and circumcentre be OO. Suppose that lines BOBO and CHCH intersect at a point DD. Point EE (where ECE \neq C) lies on side ACAC so that OECDOECD is cyclic. Point FF (where FCF \neq C) lies on side BCBC such that CE=FECE = FE. Prove that BHDFB H D F is cyclic.

(The orthocentre of a triangle is the point of intersection of its altitudes.)

Solution

Solution:

Let α=BAC\alpha = \angle BAC. Let BBBB' and CCCC' be altitudes in triangle ABCABC, as shown.

Figure 1

Claim. Triangle CDECDE is isosceles with CE=DECE = DE.

Proof.

DEC=DOC=BOC=2BAC=2α \angle DEC = \angle DOC \\ \qquad = \angle BOC \\ \qquad = 2\angle BAC \\ \qquad = 2\alpha

DCE=CCA=90CAC=90α \angle DCE = \angle C'CA = 90^\circ - \angle C'AC \\ \qquad = 90^\circ - \alpha

CDE=180DECDCE=1802α(90α)=90α=DCE.(angle sum in CDE) \begin{array}{rl} & \angle CDE = 180^\circ - \angle DEC - \angle DCE \\ & \qquad = 180^\circ - 2\alpha - (90^\circ - \alpha) \\ & \qquad = 90^\circ - \alpha \\ & \qquad = \angle DCE. \end{array} \quad \text{(angle sum in } \triangle CDE)

Since CE=DECE = DE and CE=FECE = FE, we have CE=DE=FECE = DE = FE, therefore EE is the circumcentre of triangle CDFCDF. Consequently,

HDF=180CDF=18012CEF=18012(1802ECF)=18012(1802BCB)=180(90BCB)=180BBC=180HBF(angles in BBC) \begin{array}{rl} & \angle HDF = 180^\circ - \angle CDF \\ & \qquad = 180^\circ - \frac{1}{2} \cdot \angle CEF \\ & \qquad = 180^\circ - \frac{1}{2} \bullet (180^\circ - 2\angle ECF) \\ & \qquad = 180^\circ - \frac{1}{2} \bullet (180^\circ - 2\angle B'CB) \\ & \qquad = 180^\circ - (90^\circ - \angle B'CB) \\ & \qquad = 180^\circ - \angle B'BC \\ & \qquad = 180^\circ - \angle HBF \end{array} \quad \text{(angles in } \triangle B'BC)

so BHDFB H D F is cyclic.

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.