Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 8.4 Shortlist Prove it Netherlands

Let a triangle ABCABC such that AC<AB|AC| < |AB| be given, together with its circumcircle. Let DD be a varying point on the short arc ACAC. Let EE be the reflection of AA in the internal angular bisector of BDC\angle BDC. Prove that the line DEDE passes through a fixed point, independent of where DD lies.

Solution

Let MM be the intersection of the internal angular bisector of BDC\angle BDC with the circumcircle of ABC\triangle ABC. As DD lies on the short arc ACAC, we see that MM lies on the arc BCBC not containing AA. We have BDM=MDC\angle BDM = \angle MDC as DMDM is the internal angular bisector of BDC\angle BDC, so arcs BMBM and CMCM have equal lengths. Hence MM is independent of DD.

Figure 1

Let SS be the intersection of DEDE and the circumcircle of ABC\triangle ABC. We show that SS is independent of DD. As SS and MM lie on the circumcircle of ABC\triangle ABC, we have AMD=ASD=ASE\angle AMD = \angle ASD = \angle ASE. As EE is the reflection of AA in DMDM, we now see that AME=2AMD=2ASE\angle AME = 2\angle AMD = 2\angle ASE.

Consider the circle with centre MM passing through AA. As EE is the reflection of AA in DMDM, we have MA=ME|MA| = |ME|, so this circle also passes through EE. By the inscribed angle theorem, from AME=2ASE\angle AME = 2\angle ASE it follows that SS is also on this circle. Therefore SS is the second intersection point of the circumcircle of ABC\triangle ABC and the circle with centre MM passing through AA. This is a description of SS independent of DD. As DEDE passes through SS, the point SS is the point required. \square

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