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Danube Mathematical Competition

Geometry Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Given six points on a circle, AA, aa, BB, bb, CC, cc, show that the Pascal lines of the hexagrams AaBbCcAaBbCc, AbBcCaAbBcCa, AcBaCbAcBaCb are concurrent.

Figure 1

Solution

The lines AaAa and bCbC meet at DD, and the lines BbBb and cAcA meet at D′D' to determine the Pascal line of the hexagram AaBbCcAaBbCc; similarly, the lines BcBc and aAaA meet at EE, and the lines CaCa and bBbB meet at E′E' to determine the Pascal line of the hexagram AbBcCaAbBcCa; finally, the lines CbCb and cBcB meet at FF, and the lines AcAc and aCaC meet at F′F' to determine the Pascal line of the hexagram AcBaCbAcBaCb. By Desargues' theorem, the lines DD′DD', EE′EE', FF′FF' are concurrent if and only if the pairs of lines DEDE and D′E′D'E', EFEF and E′F′E'F', FDFD and F′D′F'D' meet at three collinear points. Since the latter lie on the Pascal line of the hexagram AcBbCaAcBbCa, the conclusion follows.

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