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Geometry Difficulty 6.1 National Olympiad Prove it South Africa

Let AA, BB, CC be points on a circle whose centre is OO and whose radius is 11, such that BAC=45\angle BAC = 45^\circ. Lines ACAC and BOBO (possibly extended) intersect at DD, and lines ABAB and COCO (possibly extended) intersect at EE. Prove that BDCE=2BD \cdot CE = 2.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Figure 1

Figure 1

Put x=ODx = OD and y=OEy = OE. Let BOBO extended meet the circle again in FF (so that DF=1xDF = 1-x). Since BFC=45\angle BFC = 45^\circ and BFBF is a diameter of the circle, we have BCF=90\angle BCF = 90^\circ and BC=CF=2BC = CF = \sqrt{2}. Similarly, if CECE extended meets the circle again in GG, we have GE=1yGE = 1-y, and CGCG and BFBF are the diagonals of square BCFGBCFG that intersect perpendicularly at OO. Therefore, from the right triangles BOEBOE and CODCOD, we have CD=1+x2CD = \sqrt{1+x^2} and BE=1+y2BE = \sqrt{1+y^2}.
By the similarity of triangles BDABDA and CDFCDF, we have ADDF=BDCD\frac{AD}{DF} = \frac{BD}{CD}, i.e., AD1x=1+x1+x2\frac{AD}{1-x} = \frac{1+x}{\sqrt{1+x^2}}, so that
AD=1x21+x2.AD = \frac{1-x^2}{\sqrt{1+x^2}}.
Then, by the similarity of triangles BEGBEG and CEACEA, AD+DCGB=CEBE\frac{AD+DC}{GB} = \frac{CE}{BE}, i.e.,
1x21+x2+1+x22=1+y1+y2. \frac{\frac{1-x^2}{\sqrt{1+x^2}} + \sqrt{1+x^2}}{\sqrt{2}} = \frac{1+y}{\sqrt{1+y^2}}.
Simplifying and solving for xx gives x=1y1+yx = \frac{1-y}{1+y}, so that
BDCE=(1+x)(1+y)=(1+1y1+y)(1+y)=2. BD \cdot CE = (1+x)(1+y) = \left(1 + \frac{1-y}{1+y}\right) (1+y) = 2.
Note that we have solved here the case where AA lies strictly between GG and FF on the short arc FG^\widehat{FG}. The case where A=FA = F or A=GA = G follows trivially, because here BDCEBD \cdot CE reduces to either BFCO=21=2BF \cdot CO = 2 \cdot 1 = 2 or CGBO=2CG \cdot BO = 2. The case where AA lies between CC and FF on the short arc CF^\widehat{CF} is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Figure 2

In a way similar to the first case, using the similarity between triangles BDABDA and CDFCDF, we see that CD2+x=1+(1+x)22+x=xAD\frac{CD}{2+x} = \frac{\sqrt{1+(1+x)^2}}{2+x} = \frac{x}{AD}, so that AD=x(2+x)1+(1+x)2AD = \frac{x(2+x)}{\sqrt{1+(1+x)^2}}. The similarity between triangles BEGBEG and CEACEA gives
1y1+y2=CA2=CDAD2=1+(1+x)2x(2+x)1+(1+x)22 \frac{1-y}{\sqrt{1+y^2}} = \frac{CA}{\sqrt{2}} = \frac{CD-AD}{\sqrt{2}} = \frac{\sqrt{1+(1+x)^2} - \frac{x(2+x)}{\sqrt{1+(1+x)^2}}}{\sqrt{2}}
From this equation we solve x=2y1yx = \frac{2y}{1-y} and it follows that BDCE=(2+x)(1y)=(2+2y1y)(1y)=2BD \cdot CE = (2+x)(1-y) = (2+\frac{2y}{1-y})(1-y) = 2.
Finally, the case where AA lies between BB and GG on the short arc BG\overset{\sim}{B}G follows symmetrically from the above.

Solution 2

We can also follow a trigonometric approach: We first consider the case where OO is inside triangle ABCABC. See Figure 3.

Figure 3

Figure 3

We have BOC=90\angle BOC = 90^\circ (twice BAC=45\angle BAC = 45^\circ). Put x=ODx = OD, y=OEy = OE, α=ACE\alpha = \angle ACE, β=ABD\beta = \angle ABD. Then tanα=x\tan \alpha = x and tanβ=y\tan \beta = y. Furthermore, α+β=45\alpha + \beta = 45^\circ (using 180=BAD+ABD+BDA=45+β+(90+α)180^\circ = \angle BAD + \angle ABD + \angle BDA = 45^\circ + \beta + (90^\circ + \alpha)), so that
1=tan(α+β)=tanα+tanβ1tanαtanβ=x+y1xy. 1 = \tan(\alpha + \beta) = \frac{\tan \alpha + \tan \beta}{1 - \tan \alpha \tan \beta} = \frac{x+y}{1-xy}.
Hence, x+y=1xyx+y = 1-xy, and we have BDCE=(1+x)(1+y)=1+x+y+xy=1+1=2BD \cdot CE = (1+x)(1+y) = 1+x+y+xy = 1+1 = 2.

In Figure 4 we have OO outside triangle ABCABC.

Figure 4

Figure 4

In this case we have βα=45\beta - \alpha = 45^\circ (using 180=BAC+ABC+BCA=45+(β+45)+(45α)180^\circ = \angle BAC + \angle ABC + \angle BCA = 45^\circ + (\beta + 45^\circ) + (45^\circ - \alpha)), so that
1=tan(βα)=tanβtanα1+tanαtanβ=yx1+xy. 1 = \tan(\beta - \alpha) = \frac{\tan \beta - \tan \alpha}{1 + \tan \alpha \tan \beta} = \frac{y-x}{1+xy}.
Hence, yx=1+xyy-x = 1+xy, and we have BDCE=(1x)(1+y)=1x+yxy=1+1=2BD \cdot CE = (1-x)(1+y) = 1-x+y-xy = 1+1 = 2.
Finally, there are the cases where OO is either on ABAB or on ACAC. In the former case we have D=AD = A and E=OE = O, so that BDCE=BACO=21=2BD \cdot CE = BA \cdot CO = 2 \cdot 1 = 2, and in the latter case, D=OD = O and E=AE = A, so that BDCE=BOCA=12=2BD \cdot CE = BO \cdot CA = 1 \cdot 2 = 2.

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