Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Let ABAB be a chord of a circle Ω\Omega with centre MM, and PP a point on the segment ABAB. Circles ΩA\Omega_A and ΩB\Omega_B pass through PP and are tangent to Ω\Omega at AA and BB, respectively. Let QQ be the second intersection point of ΩA\Omega_A and ΩB\Omega_B. Prove that PQM\angle PQM is a right angle.

Solution

Let TT be the intersection point of the tangents to Ω\Omega at AA and BB. Because of the right angles at AA and BB, the points AA, MM, BB, TT all lie on the circle with diameter TMTM. Because TA=TB|TA| = |TB| and these lines are tangents to ΩA\Omega_A and ΩB\Omega_B, respectively, TT must be on the radical axis of ΩA\Omega_A and ΩB\Omega_B, i.e. on the line PQPQ. Hence, PQM\angle PQM is a right angle iff QQ is on the circle with diameter TMTM.
Figure 1

To show this, first note that AMT=12AMB=TAB\angle AMT = \frac{1}{2}\angle AMB = \angle TAB by the Alternate Segment Theorem in circle Ω\Omega with centre MM and that TAB=AQP\angle TAB = \angle AQP by the Alternate Segment Theorem in circle ΩA\Omega_A. Hence, AMT=AQT\angle AMT = \angle AQT which implies that AA, QQ, MM, TT are concyclic. As MTMT is a diameter of this circle and PP is on QTQT, it follows that PQM\angle PQM is a right angle.

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