Maths Olympiad Prep

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IRL ABooklet

Geometry Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Consider △ABC\triangle ABC with ∠A>90∘\angle A > 90^\circ and two points DD and EE on segment BCBC so that ∠BAD=∠CAE\angle BAD = \angle CAE. If the circumcircles of △BAD\triangle BAD and △CAE\triangle CAE are tangent to each other prove that ∠BAE=∠CAD=90∘\angle BAE = \angle CAD = 90^\circ.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Extend ADAD and AEAE to meet the circumcircle of △ABC\triangle ABC at FF and GG, respectively. Let OO be the intersection point of BGBG and CFCF.

Figure 1

Since ∠BAD=∠CAE\angle BAD = \angle CAE, we have
∠BCO=∠OGF=∠BAD=∠CAE=∠CBO=∠OFG, \angle BCO = \angle OGF = \angle BAD = \angle CAE = \angle CBO = \angle OFG,
subtending equal arcs. Hence OBOB and OCOC are tangents to the circumcircles of △BAD\triangle BAD and △CAE\triangle CAE by the Alternate Segment Theorem, and △OBC\triangle OBC is isosceles with ∣OB∣=∣OC∣|OB| = |OC|. Then OO must be on the common tangent to the circumcircles of △BAD\triangle BAD and △CAE\triangle CAE, since it has the same power with respect to them. Since OAOA is tangent to the two circles, ∣OA∣=∣OB∣=∣OC∣|OA| = |OB| = |OC| hence OO is the circumcentre of △ABC\triangle ABC, hence BGBG and CFCF are diameters, thus ∠BAE=∠CAD=90∘\angle BAE = \angle CAD = 90^\circ.

Solution 2

Let M,NM, N be the centres of the circumcircles of triangles BADBAD and CAECAE, respectively. These two circles are tangent at AA iff M,A,NM, A, N are collinear. We define α=∠BAD=∠CAE\alpha = \angle BAD = \angle CAE, β=∠MAB=∠MBA\beta = \angle MAB = \angle MBA, and γ=∠NAC=∠NCA\gamma = \angle NAC = \angle NCA.

Figure 2

We then have ∠BMA=180∘−2β\angle BMA = 180^\circ - 2\beta and ∠ANC=180∘−2γ\angle ANC = 180^\circ - 2\gamma. If MM and DD are on opposite sides of ABAB, we have ∠BDA=180∘−12∠BMA=90∘+β\angle BDA = 180^\circ - \frac{1}{2}\angle BMA = 90^\circ + \beta and ∠ADE=180∘−∠BDA=90∘−β\angle ADE = 180^\circ - \angle BDA = 90^\circ - \beta. Similarly, ∠AED=90∘−γ\angle AED = 90^\circ - \gamma. We now obtain
∠DAE=180∘−∠ADE−∠AED=β+γ. \angle DAE = 180^\circ - \angle ADE - \angle AED = \beta + \gamma.
Because M,A,NM, A, N are collinear, this implies 2α+2β+2γ=180∘2\alpha + 2\beta + 2\gamma = 180^\circ, hence α+β+γ=90∘\alpha + \beta + \gamma = 90^\circ. Finally, ∠BAE=∠BAD+∠DAE=α+β+γ=90∘\angle BAE = \angle BAD + \angle DAE = \alpha + \beta + \gamma = 90^\circ and ∠DAC=∠DAE+∠EAC=β+γ+α=90∘\angle DAC = \angle DAE + \angle EAC = \beta + \gamma + \alpha = 90^\circ.

If MM and DD were on the same side of ABAB, the above argument, with β\beta replaced by −β-\beta in the formulas for ∠BDA\angle BDA, ∠ADE\angle ADE etc., gives the same result. We then see that ∠BDA=90∘+α>90∘\angle BDA = 90^\circ + \alpha > 90^\circ, which implies that MM and DD must actually be on opposite sides of ABAB.

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