Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / Saudi Arabian Mathematical Competitions /166 of 395

Saudi Arabian Mathematical Competitions

Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Saudi Arabia

Points MM and NN are considered in the interior of triangle ABCABC such that MAB^=NAC^\widehat{MAB} = \widehat{NAC} and MBA^=NBC^\widehat{MBA} = \widehat{NBC}. Prove that
AM⋅ANAB⋅AC+BM⋅BNBA⋅BC+CM⋅CNCA⋅CB=1. \frac{AM \cdot AN}{AB \cdot AC} + \frac{BM \cdot BN}{BA \cdot BC} + \frac{CM \cdot CN}{CA \cdot CB} = 1.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Figure 1

Let KK be a point on the ray BNBN such that BMA^=BCK^\widehat{BMA} = \widehat{BCK}. It is clear that KK is outside of triangle because BMA^>ACB^\widehat{BMA} > \widehat{ACB}. We have △ABM∼△KBC\triangle ABM \sim \triangle KBC, hence
ABBK=BMBC=AMCK.(1) \frac{AB}{BK} = \frac{BM}{BC} = \frac{AM}{CK} . \tag{1}
Now, we have △ABK∼△MBC\triangle ABK \sim \triangle MBC (since ABK^=MBC^\widehat{ABK} = \widehat{MBC} and ABBK=BMBC\frac{AB}{BK} = \frac{BM}{BC}), hence
ABBM=BKBC=AKCM.(2) \frac{AB}{BM} = \frac{BK}{BC} = \frac{AK}{CM} . \tag{2}
We obtained CKN^=MAB^=NAC^\widehat{CKN} = \widehat{MAB} = \widehat{NAC}. It follows that quadrilateral ANCKANCK is cyclic, and by using Ptolemy's theorem we get
AC⋅(BK−BN)=AN⋅CK+CN⋅AK.(3) AC \cdot (BK - BN) = AN \cdot CK + CN \cdot AK . \tag{3}
From (1) and (2) it follows
CK=AM⋅BCBM,AK=AB⋅CMBM,BK=AB⋅BCBM. CK = \frac{AM \cdot BC}{BM}, \quad AK = \frac{AB \cdot CM}{BM}, \quad BK = \frac{AB \cdot BC}{BM} .
Replacing these relations in (3) we get
AC⋅(AB⋅BCBM−BN)=AM⋅AN⋅BCBM+CM⋅CN⋅ABBM, AC \cdot \left( \frac{AB \cdot BC}{BM} - BN \right) = \frac{AM \cdot AN \cdot BC}{BM} + \frac{CM \cdot CN \cdot AB}{BM},
hence

AM\text{AM} AN}{AB ⋅\cdot AC} + BM\text{BM} BN}{BA ⋅\cdot BC} + CM\text{CM} CN}{CA ⋅\cdot CB} = 1 .

Solution 2

Using Ceva's theorem in trigonometric form for points MM and NN we get
sin⁡MAB^sin⁡MAC^⋅sin⁡MBC^sin⁡MBA^⋅sin⁡MCA^sin⁡MCB^=1, \frac{\sin \widehat{MAB}}{\sin \widehat{MAC}} \cdot \frac{\sin \widehat{MBC}}{\sin \widehat{MBA}} \cdot \frac{\sin \widehat{MCA}}{\sin \widehat{MCB}} = 1,
and
sin⁡NAB^sin⁡NAC^⋅sin⁡NBC^sin⁡NBA^⋅sin⁡NCA^sin⁡NCB^=1 \frac{\sin \widehat{NAB}}{\sin \widehat{NAC}} \cdot \frac{\sin \widehat{NBC}}{\sin \widehat{NBA}} \cdot \frac{\sin \widehat{NCA}}{\sin \widehat{NCB}} = 1
Multiplying these relations, it follows
sin⁡MCA^sin⁡MBC^⋅sin⁡NCA^sin⁡NCB^=1, \frac{\sin \widehat{MCA}}{\sin \widehat{MBC}} \cdot \frac{\sin \widehat{NCA}}{\sin \widehat{NCB}} = 1,
hence
sin⁡MCA^sin⁡MCB^=sin⁡NCB^sin⁡NCA^.(2) \frac{\sin \widehat{MCA}}{\sin \widehat{MCB}} = \frac{\sin \widehat{NCB}}{\sin \widehat{NCA}} . \tag{2}
Denote MCB^=α\widehat{MCB} = \alpha and MCA^=β\widehat{MCA} = \beta and get
sin⁡(C−α)sin⁡α=sin⁡(C−β)sin⁡β.(3) \frac{\sin (C - \alpha)}{\sin \alpha} = \frac{\sin (C - \beta)}{\sin \beta} . \tag{3}
or
sin⁡C⋅cot⁡α−cos⁡C=sin⁡C⋅cot⁡β−cos⁡C \sin C \cdot \cot \alpha - \cos C = \sin C \cdot \cot \beta - \cos C
hence α=β\alpha = \beta.

Using complex coordinates, relation MCB^=ACN^\widehat{MCB} = \widehat{ACN} shows that
arg⁡m−cb−c=arg⁡a−cn−c, \arg \frac{m-c}{b-c} = \arg \frac{a-c}{n-c},
hence the number m−cb−c:a−cn−c\frac{m-c}{b-c} : \frac{a-c}{n-c} is real. We have
m−cb−c⋅n−ca−c=∣m−cb−c⋅n−ca−c∣=CM⋅CNCB⋅CA. \frac{m-c}{b-c} \cdot \frac{n-c}{a-c} = \left| \frac{m-c}{b-c} \cdot \frac{n-c}{a-c} \right| = \frac{CM \cdot CN}{CB \cdot CA} .
Finally, we get
∑AM⋅ANAB⋅AC=∑(m−a)(n−a)(b−a)(c−a)=∑(m−a)(n−a)(b−c)(a−b)(b−c)(c−a)=1 \sum \frac{AM \cdot AN}{AB \cdot AC} = \sum \frac{(m-a)(n-a)}{(b-a)(c-a)} \\ = \frac{\sum (m-a)(n-a)(b-c)}{(a-b)(b-c)(c-a)} = 1

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,604 problems in a working order, from Junior Challenge level to the IMO shortlist.

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