Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:

Point PP is inside triangle ABC\triangle ABC such that ABP=ACP\angle ABP = \angle ACP. Given that AB=6AB = 6, AC=8AC = 8, BC=7BC = 7, and BPPC=12\frac{BP}{PC} = \frac{1}{2}, compute BPCABC\frac{|BPC|}{|ABC|}.

(Here, [XYZ][XYZ] denotes the area of XYZ\triangle XYZ.)

Solution

Solution:

Figure 1
Let the internal and external bisectors of BAC\angle BAC meet BCBC at DD and EE. Similarly, let the internal and external bisectors of BPC\angle BPC meet BCBC at DD' and EE'. The angle condition implies that ADPDAD\parallel PD' and AEPEAE\parallel PE'. Thus, triangles ADEADE and PDEPD'E' are homothetic. Hence, the requested ratio is DEDE\frac{DE}{D'E'}. Repeated applications of the angle bisector theorem yield

BD=766+8=3, BD = 7 \cdot \frac{6}{6 + 8} = 3,
BE=7686=21, BE = 7 \cdot \frac{6}{8 - 6} = 21,
BD=711+2=73, BD' = 7 \cdot \frac{1}{1 + 2} = \frac{7}{3},
BE=7121=7, BE' = 7 \cdot \frac{1}{2 - 1} = 7,
so DE=24DE = 24 and DE=28/3D'E' = 28 / 3. Hence, the answer is 28/324=[718]\frac{28 / 3}{24} = \left[\frac{7}{18}\right].

Solution 2:

Figure 2
Let D=APBCD = AP\cap BC, E=BPACE = BP\cap AC and F=CPABF = CP\cap AB. Then, BCEFBCEF is cyclic, so by Power of a Point, AEAF=ABAC=34\frac{AE}{AF} = \frac{AB}{AC} = \frac{3}{4}. Let AE=3xAE = 3x and AF=4xAF = 4x. Then,

PFBPECBFCE=BPCP64x83x=12. \triangle PFB \sim \triangle PEC \Longrightarrow \frac{BF}{CE} = \frac{BP}{CP} \Longrightarrow \frac{6 - 4x}{8 - 3x} = \frac{1}{2}.
Solving for xx gives x=45x = \frac{4}{5}, so we get that AF=165AF = \frac{16}{5}, FB=145FB = \frac{14}{5}, AE=125AE = \frac{12}{5}, and EC=405EC = \frac{40}{5}. By Ceva's theorem on ABC\triangle ABC and point PP, we have

BDDC=AEECBFFA=AEAFBFCE=3412=38. \frac{BD}{DC} = \frac{AE}{EC} \cdot \frac{BF}{FA} = \frac{AE}{AF} \cdot \frac{BF}{CE} = \frac{3}{4} \cdot \frac{1}{2} = \frac{3}{8}.
Finally, by Menelaus's theorem on ADC\triangle ADC and line BEBE, we get that

APPD=CBBDAEEC=1131228=117, \frac{AP}{PD} = \frac{CB}{BD} \cdot \frac{AE}{EC} = \frac{11}{3} \cdot \frac{12}{28} = \frac{11}{7},
which implies that BPCABC=[718]\frac{|BPC|}{|ABC|} = \left[\frac{7}{18}\right]

Solution 3:

We use barycentric coordinates with respect to ABC\triangle ABC. From ABP=ACP\angle ABP = \angle ACP, we get

ABPACP=ABBPACCP=38, \frac{|ABP|}{|ACP|} = \frac{AB \cdot BP}{AC \cdot CP} = \frac{3}{8},
so PP has coordinate (:8:3)(- :8:3). Let QQ be the isogonal conjugate of PP, so QQ lies on the perpendicular bisector of BCBC. By Steiner ratio theorem, QQ has coordinate (:82/8:62/3)=(:8:12)=(:2:3)(- :8^2 / 8:6^2 / 3) = (- :8:12) = (- :2:3). Let the coordinate be (t:2:3)(t:2:3) for some real number tt. Then, recall the equation for the perpendicular bisector (from Corollary 6 of https://web.evanchem.cc/handouts/bary/bary-full.pdf):

a2(zy)+x(c2b2)=0 a^2(z - y) + x(c^2 - b^2) = 0
72(32)+t(6282)=0, \Rightarrow 7^2(3 - 2) + t(6^2 - 8^2) = 0,
so t=72(32)8262=74t = \frac{7^2(3 - 2)}{8^2 - 6^2} = \frac{7}{4}. Hence, point QQ has coordinates (7:8:12)(7:8:12), so point PP has coordinates (72/7:82/8:62/12)=(7:8:3)(7^2 / 7:8^2 / 8:6^2 / 12) = (7:8:3). Therefore, BPC/ABC=[718]|BPC| / |ABC| = \left[\frac{7}{18}\right]

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