Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it United States

Problem:

In triangle ABCA B C, let DD be the midpoint of side BCB C. Let EE and FF be the feet of the perpendiculars to ADA D from BB and CC, respectively. Prove that BE=CFB E = C F.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Solution:

We have DFC=π/2=DEB\angle D F C = \pi / 2 = \angle D E B. Also, CDF=BDE\angle C D F = \angle B D E since they are vertical angles. (It seems possible that EE and FF could lie on the same side of DD, so that CDF\angle C D F and BDE\angle B D E would be supplementary rather than equal; however, if they were supplementary and unequal, then one of them, say BDE\angle B D E, would be >π/2> \pi / 2, so the sum of the angles of BDE\triangle B D E would be >π> \pi, a contradiction.) These equal angles imply DFCDEB\triangle D F C \sim \triangle D E B. But CD=BC/2=BDC D = B C / 2 = B D, so in fact DFCDEB\triangle D F C \cong \triangle D E B, giving CF=BEC F = B E.

Solution 2

Solution:

Let HH be the foot of the perpendicular from AA to BCB C. Then, using the bh/2b h / 2 formula and the fact that DD is the midpoint of BCB C, we get
ADBE2=Area(ABD)=BDAH2=CDAH2=Area(ACD)=ADCF2. \frac{A D \cdot B E}{2} = \operatorname{Area}(\triangle A B D) = \frac{B D \cdot A H}{2} = \frac{C D \cdot A H}{2} = \operatorname{Area}(\triangle A C D) = \frac{A D \cdot C F}{2} .
Multiplying by 2/AD2 / A D now gives BE=CFB E = C F.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.