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Geometry Difficulty 6.8 National Olympiad Prove it Hong Kong

The incircle of a scalene and acute ABC\triangle ABC touches BCBC, CACA and ABAB at DD, EE and FF respectively. HH is a point on the segment EFEF such that DHEFDH \perp EF. Suppose AHBCAH \perp BC, prove that HH is the orthocentre of ABC\triangle ABC.

Solution

Let PP be the midpoint of DFDF. Then FPB=90\angle FPB = 90^\circ. Since BFP=DEH\angle BFP = \angle DEH, we have BPFDHE\triangle BPF \sim \triangle DHE. This implies BFPF=DEHE\frac{BF}{PF} = \frac{DE}{HE}, which yields
BF×HE=DE×PF=12DE×DF. BF \times HE = DE \times PF = \frac{1}{2}DE \times DF.
By symmetry,
CE×HF=12DE×DF=BF×HE. CE \times HF = \frac{1}{2}DE \times DF = BF \times HE.
Together with BFH=90+A2=CEH\angle BFH = 90^\circ + \frac{A}{2} = \angle CEH, we obtain BFHCEH\triangle BFH \sim \triangle CEH. It follows that FBH=ECH\angle FBH = \angle ECH.
Figure 1

Let BB' be the reflection of BB in the line AHAH. Note that BB' lies on BCBC since AHBCAH \perp BC. Also, BCB' \neq C as ABC\triangle ABC is scalene. Therefore, we find that
ABH=ABH=ACH. \angle AB'H = \angle ABH = \angle ACH.
This implies AA, HH, BB', CC are concyclic. Thus,
HBC=HBB=HAC=90C, \angle HBC = \angle HB'B = \angle HAC = 90^\circ - C,
and hence BHACBH \perp AC. So HH is the orthocentre of ABC\triangle ABC.

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