Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /34 of 61

Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Ibero-American Mathematical Olympiad

Problem:

Given two circles CC and CC', we say that CC bisects CC' if their common chord is a diameter of CC'. Show that for any two circles which are not concentric, there are infinitely many circles which bisect them both. Find the locus of the centers of the bisecting circles.

Solution

Solution:

Let CC, CC' have centers OO, OO' respectively and radii rr, rr' respectively. Let a circle center PP bisect CC. Suppose it meets CC at AA and BB. Then ABAB is perpendicular to OPOP and is a diameter of CC. Hence PA2=OP2+r2PA^{2} = OP^{2} + r^{2}. Conversely, the circle center PP, radius OP2+r2\sqrt{OP^{2} + r^{2}} bisects CC. So PP will bisect CC and CC' iff OP2+r2=OP2+r2OP^{2} + r^{2} = OP'^{2} + r'^{2}.

It is well-known that the locus of points PP' with equal tangents to CC and CC' is the radical axis. Call the radical axis RR. For a point PP' on the radical axis we have PO2r2=PO2r2P'O^{2} - r^{2} = P'O'^{2} - r'^{2}. If we reflect PP' in the perpendicular bisector of OOOO' to get PP, then PO=POPO = P'O', PO=POPO' = P'O, so PO2r2=PO2r2PO'^{2} - r^{2} = PO^{2} - r^{2} and hence PO2+r2PO^{2} + r^{2}. Call the reflection of RR in the perpendicular bisector of OOOO' the line RR'. We have established that points on RR' form part of the locus. Conversely, if PP' is such that there is a circle center PP' bisecting both circles, then OP2+r2=OP2+r2OP'^{2} + r^{2} = O'P'^{2} + r'^{2}, so if PP is the reflection of PP', then OP2r2=OP2r2OP^{2} - r^{2} = O'P^{2} - r'^{2} and hence PP lies on the radical axis RR. Hence PP' must lie on RR'.

Figure 1

We have PT2=PO2r2=PX2+OX2r2PT^{2} = PO^{2} - r^{2} = PX^{2} + OX^{2} - r^{2}, and similarly PT2=PX2+OX2r2PT'^{2} = PX^{2} + O'X^{2} - r'^{2}. So PT=PTPT = PT' iff OX2r2=OX2r2OX^{2} - r^{2} = O'X^{2} - r'^{2}. There is evidently a unique point XX for which that is true, so the locus of such PP is the line through XX perpendicular to OOOO'.

Figure 2

If the circles intersect, then the point XX evidently lies on the line joining the two common points, because OX2r2=XY2=OX2r2OX^{2} - r^{2} = -XY^{2} = O'X^{2} - r'^{2}. In any case the midpoint of each common tangent evidently lies on the line, so that provides a way of constructing it.

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.