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Geometry Difficulty 6.4 National olympiad Prove it Romania

Let APDAPD be an acute-angled triangle and let B(AP)B \in (AP), C(PD)C \in (PD) be two points. The diagonals of the quadrilateral ABCDABCD meet at the point QQ. Denote by H1H_1 and H2H_2 the orthocenters of the triangles APDAPD and BPCBPC respectively. The circumcircles of the triangles ABQABQ and CDQCDQ meet again at the point XX (XQX \neq Q) and the circumcircles of the triangles ADQADQ and BCQBCQ meet again at the point YY (YQY \neq Q).
Show that if the line H1H2H_1H_2 passes through the point XX, then it also passes through the point YY.

Solution

Let AAAA', DDDD' be altitudes in the triangle APD\triangle APD and let BBBB', CCCC' be altitudes in the triangle BPC\triangle BPC.
We have XAC=XBD\angle XAC = \angle XBD and XCA=XDB\angle XCA = \angle XDB, and thus XACXBD\triangle XAC \sim \triangle XBD. We prove that the line H1H2H_1H_2 passes through the point XX if and only if the above triangles are congruent.

Figure 1

We consider the circles ω1,ω2\omega_1, \omega_2 of diameter ACAC and BDBD respectively. The points H1,H2H_1, H_2 belong to the radical axis of these two circles, because A,Aω1,D,Dω2A, A' \in \omega_1, D, D' \in \omega_2

şi Pω1(H1)=AH1AH1=DH1DH1=Pω2(H1)P_{\omega_1}(H_1) = -AH_1 \cdot A'H_1 = -DH_1 \cdot D'H_1 = P_{\omega_2}(H_1); and similar for H2H_2. Thus, XH1H2X \in H_1H_2 if and only if Pω1(X)=Pω2(X)P_{\omega_1}(X) = P_{\omega_2}(X).
We have Pω1(X)=XM2MC2P_{\omega_1}(X) = XM^2 - MC^2 and Pω2(X)=XN2ND2P_{\omega_2}(X) = XN^2 - ND^2, were M,NM, N are the centers of the circles ω1\omega_1 and ω2\omega_2 respectively. We notice that (XM2MC2)/(XN2ND2)(XM^2 - MC^2)/(XN^2 - ND^2) is the square of the similarity ratio of the triangles AXCAXC and BXDBXD, or XM2MC2=XN2ND2=0XM^2 - MC^2 = XN^2 - ND^2 = 0. In the former case, the triangles AXCAXC and BXDBXD should be similar and right angles in XX. But now the line CDCD corresponds to the line ABAB by a similarity of center XX and angle 9090^\circ, so ABCDAB \perp CD – contradiction. Thus (XM2MC2)/(XN2ND2)(XM^2 - MC^2)/(XN^2 - ND^2) is the square of the similarity ratio of the triangles AXCAXC and BXDBXD.
We obtain that XH1H2X \in H_1H_2 if and only if the similarity ratio of the triangles AXCAXC and BXDBXD is 1, that is ΔAXCΔBXD\Delta AXC \equiv \Delta BXD. But this is equivalent to AC=BDAC = BD.
In the same manner, YH1H2Y \in H_1H_2 if and only if AC=BDAC = BD, and we get the conclusion of the problem.

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