Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Let ABCABC be a triangle. A circle through BB and CC crosses the sides ABAB and ACAC at PP and QQ, respectively. Points XX and YY on segments BQBQ and CPCP, respectively, satisfy ABY=AXP\angle ABY = \angle AXP and ACX=AYQ\angle ACX = \angle AYQ. Prove that XYXY and BCBC are parallel.
Andrei Chiriță

Figure 1

Solution

Let BYBY and CXCX cross at SS and let circles APXAPX and AQYAQY cross again at TT. We first prove that A,S,TA, S, T are collinear. Invert from AA with power APAB=AQACAP \cdot AB = AQ \cdot AC. As ABY=AXP\angle ABY = \angle AXP, the circle APXAPX is mapped to line BYBY. Similarly, the circle AQYAQY is mapped to line CXCX, so the inversion switches SS and TT. Hence A,S,TA, S, T are collinear, as stated.

Next, we show that the lines ATAT, PXPX and QYQY are projectively concurrent.
Let PXPX and QYQY cross projectively at RR. Apply Pappus' theorem to the hexagram BPXCQYBPXCQY to deduce that A=BPCQA = BP \cap CQ, R=PXQYR = PX \cap QY and S=XCYBS = XC \cap YB are collinear. The desired concurrence now follows by the preceding paragraph.

We now prove that PQYXPQYX is cyclic. If ATAT, PXPX and QYQY are parallel, then PQYXPQYX is an isosceles trapezoid, so it is cyclic. Otherwise, read the power of RR from circles APXAPX and AQYAQY to write RXRP=RTRA=RYRQRX \cdot RP = RT \cdot RA = RY \cdot RQ, so PQYXPQYX is cyclic.

Finally, read angles from circle PQYXPQYX and the given circle through BB and CC to write PYX=PQXPQB=PCB\angle PYX = \angle PQX \equiv \angle PQB = \angle PCB. Consequently, XYXY and BCBC are parallel, as required.

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