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Junior Balkan Mathematical Olympiad Shortlist

Geometry Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Prove it JBMO

Problem:
Let PP be a point in the interior of a triangle ABCA B C. The lines AP,BPA P, B P and CPC P intersect again the circumcircles of the triangles PBC,PCAP B C, P C A, and PABP A B at D,ED, E and FF respectively. Prove that PP is the orthocenter of the triangle DEFD E F if and only if PP is the incenter of the triangle ABCA B C.

Solution

Solution:
If PP is the incenter of ABCA B C, then ∠BPD=∠ABP+∠BAP=A^+B^2\angle B P D = \angle A B P + \angle B A P = \frac{\hat{A} + \hat{B}}{2}, and ∠BDP=∠BCP=C^2\angle B D P = \angle B C P = \frac{\hat{C}}{2}. From triangle BDPB D P, it follows that ∠PBD=90∘\angle P B D = 90^{\circ}, i.e. that EBE B is one of the altitudes of the triangle DEFD E F. Similarly, ADA D and CFC F are altitudes, which means that PP is the orthocenter of DEFD E F.

Figure 1

Notice that APA P separates BB from CC, BB from EE and CC from FF. Therefore APA P separates EE from FF, which means that PP belongs to the interior of ∠EDF\angle E D F. It follows that P∈Int⁡(△DEF)P \in \operatorname{Int}(\triangle D E F).
If PP is the orthocenter of DEFD E F, then clearly DEFD E F must be acute. Let A′∈EFA^{\prime} \in E F, B′∈DFB^{\prime} \in D F and C′∈DEC^{\prime} \in D E be the feet of the altitudes. Then the quadrilaterals B′PA′FB^{\prime} P A^{\prime} F, C′PB′DC^{\prime} P B^{\prime} D, and A′PC′EA^{\prime} P C^{\prime} E are cyclic, which means that ∠B′FA′=180∘−∠B′PA′=180∘−∠BPA=∠BFA\angle B^{\prime} F A^{\prime} = 180^{\circ} - \angle B^{\prime} P A^{\prime} = 180^{\circ} - \angle B P A = \angle B F A. Similarly, one obtains that ∠C′DB′=∠CDB\angle C^{\prime} D B^{\prime} = \angle C D B, and ∠A′EC′=∠AEC\angle A^{\prime} E C^{\prime} = \angle A E C.
- If B∈Ext⁡(△FPD)B \in \operatorname{Ext}(\triangle F P D), then A∈Int⁡(△EPF)A \in \operatorname{Int}(\triangle E P F), C∈Ext⁡(△DPE)C \in \operatorname{Ext}(\triangle D P E), and thus B∈Int⁡(△FPD)B \in \operatorname{Int}(\triangle F P D), contradiction.
- If B∈Int⁡(△FPD)B \in \operatorname{Int}(\triangle F P D), then A∈Ext⁡(△EPF)A \in \operatorname{Ext}(\triangle E P F), C∈Int⁡(△DPE)C \in \operatorname{Int}(\triangle D P E), and thus B∈Ext⁡(△FPD)B \in \operatorname{Ext}(\triangle F P D), contradiction.
This leaves us with B∈FDB \in F D. Then we must have A∈EFA \in E F, C∈DEC \in D E, which means that A=A′A = A^{\prime}, B=B′B = B^{\prime}, C=C′C = C^{\prime}. Thus ABCA B C is the orthic triangle of triangle DEFD E F and it is well known that the orthocenter of an acute triangle DEFD E F is the incenter of its orthic triangle.

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