Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 6.0 National olympiad Prove it Romania

Let MM be the midpoint of the side ADAD of the square ABCDABCD. Consider the equilateral triangles DFMDFM and BFEBFE, such that FF lies in the interior of ABCDABCD and the lines EFEF and BCBC are concurrent. Denote by PP the midpoint of MEME. Prove that:
a) PP lies on the line ACAC;
b) the halfline PMPM is the bisector of the angle APFAPF.

Solution

a) Construct the equilateral triangle BDQBDQ, such that CC lies in its interior. QQ is situated on the perpendicular bisector of the diagonal BDBD, therefore QQ, CC and AA are collinear. Since EBQ=FBD=60FBQ\angle EBQ = \angle FBD = 60^\circ - \angle FBQ, BQ=BDBQ = BD and BE=BFBE = BF, triangles BEQBEQ and BFDBFD are congruent (S.A.S.), thus BQE=BDF=ADFADB=15\angle BQE = \angle BDF = \angle ADF - \angle ADB = 15^\circ and QE=DF=DM=AMQE = DF = DM = AM.
From QBC=QBDCBD=15=BQE\angle QBC = \angle QBD - \angle CBD = 15^\circ = \angle BQE, we infer that QECBADQE \parallel CB \parallel AD. As QE=AMQE = AM, it follows that AMQEAMQE is parallelogram, so the midpoint PP of MEME lies on AQAQ, i.e., PP is situated on the line ACAC.

b) Since QE=DMQE = DM and QEDMQE \parallel DM we deduce that DMEQDMEQ is a parallelogram and DME=DQE=75\angle DME = \angle DQE = 75^\circ. Consequently, FMP=DMPDMF=15\angle FMP = \angle DMP - \angle DMF = 15^\circ. The triangle FADFAD is right angled, with FAD=30\angle FAD = 30^\circ, therefore we obtain FAP=DAPDAF=15\angle FAP = \angle DAP - \angle DAF = 15^\circ and MFA=DFADFM=30\angle MFA = \angle DFA - \angle DFM = 30^\circ.
Since FMP=FAP\angle FMP = \angle FAP, it follows that AMFPAMFP is a cyclic quadrilateral, with MPA=MFA=30\angle MPA = \angle MFA = 30^\circ.
FPM=FAM=30\angle FPM = \angle FAM = 30^\circ, therefore FPM=APM\angle FPM = \angle APM, and PMPM is the angle bisector of APFAPF.

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