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Geometry Difficulty 6.3 National Olympiad Prove it Ireland

Let OO denote the circumcentre of ABC\triangle ABC, and MM the midpoint of BCBC. The line perpendicular to ACAC passing through the point CC intersects line ABAB (extended) at TT, and intersects the circumcircle of ABC\triangle ABC for the second time at DD. Let LL denote a point on the line ADAD (extended) such that CTCT is the angle bisector of BCL\angle BCL. Lines OMOM and TLTL intersect at PP. Prove that the lines PBPB and PCPC are tangent to the circumcircle of ABC\triangle ABC.

Solutions — 3

Solution 1

Because ABDCABDC is cyclic,
TAL=BAD=BCD=DCL=TCL \angle TAL = \angle BAD = \angle BCD = \angle DCL = \angle TCL
hence quadrilateral ACLT is cyclic. This implies
OLP=ALT=ACT=90and \angle OLP = \angle ALT = \angle ACT = 90^{\circ} \quad \text{and}
CLP=CLT=180A=180COM=180COP \angle CLP = \angle CLT = 180^{\circ} - \angle A = 180^{\circ} - \angle COM = 180^{\circ} - \angle COP
(by the central angle theorem), and so OCLP is also a cyclic quadrilateral.

Hence OCP=OLP=90\angle OCP = \angle OLP = 90^\circ, i.e. PCPC is tangent to circumcircle (ABC). As OPOP is the perpendicular bisector of BCBC (MM is the midpoint of the chord BCBC of circle centre OO), BOP=COP\angle BOP = \angle COP and by SAS, COPBOP\triangle COP \equiv \triangle BOP. This shows that PBPB is also tangent to circumcircle (ABC).

Solution 2

As ACD=90\angle ACD = 90^\circ, ADAD is a diameter of circle (ABC) and so ABD=90\angle ABD = 90^\circ as well. Let BDBD (extended) intersect line ACAC (extended) at SS. Then DD, the intersection point of BSBS and CTCT, is the orthocentre of AST\triangle AST. Like in Solution 1, from BAD=BCD=DCL\angle BAD = \angle BCD = \angle DCL we see that ACLTACLT is cyclic and find ALT=ACT=90\angle ALT = \angle ACT = 90^\circ. It follows that LL lies on STST.

Figure 1

Because ADAD is a diameter of circle (ABC), OO is the midpoint of ADAD. Therefore, the points BB, OO, CC, LL are all on the 9-point circle of AST\triangle AST. Because OPOP is the perpendicular bisector of the chord BCBC of this circle, it contains the centre of it. Since OLP=90\angle OLP = 90^\circ, we now see that PP is on this 9-point circle as well and OPOP is a diameter of it. This shows that OCP=OBP=90\angle OCP = \angle OBP = 90^\circ, i.e. PBPB and PCPC are tangents to (ABC).

Solution 3

As in the other solutions, we first establish that the quadrilateral ACLT is cyclic and TLA=TCA=90\angle TLA = \angle TCA = 90^\circ. Let AL intersect BC at N.

Figure 2

Since CD is the internal angle bisector of BCL\angle BCL and ACD=90\angle ACD = 90^\circ, then CACA is the external angle bisector of BCL\angle BCL and thus LL, DD, NN, AA form a harmonic range (i.e. cross-ratio [L,N;D,A]=1[L, N; D, A] = -1; or LL, NN are harmonic conjugates with respect to AA and DD), hence LL is on the polar line of NN with respect to the circumcircle (ABC). Moreover, OLLTOL \perp LT so LTLT is the polar line of NN. Since PP is on LTLT, NN is on the polar line of PP, which is perpendicular to OPOP, hence must be the line BCBC. It follows that PBPB and PCPC are both tangent to circumcircle (ABC).

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