Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Consider triangle ABCABC inscribed in circle ω\omega, and an interior point PP. Lines AP,BPAP, BP and CPCP intersect the circle ω\omega for the second time at points D,E,FD, E, F, respectively. Let A,B,CA', B', C' be the reflections of A,B,CA, B, C in the lines EF,FD,DEEF, FD, DE respectively. Show that triangle ABCA'B'C' is similar to ABCABC.

Solution

We shall prove that PABPAB\triangle PAB \sim \triangle PA'B', and similarly PBCPBC\triangle PBC \sim \triangle PB'C' and PCAPCA\triangle PCA \sim \triangle PC'A'; obviously, these three triangle similarities are enough in order to prove that ABCABC\triangle ABC \sim \triangle A'B'C', either from angle equalities or side ratios.

Obviously, we have PAEPBD\triangle PAE \sim \triangle PBD, so AEPE=BDPD\frac{AE}{PE} = \frac{BD}{PD}. For symmetry reasons, we have AE=AEAE = A'E and BD=BDBD = B'D, so AEPE=BDPD\frac{A'E}{PE} = \frac{B'D}{PD}.

Also,
AEP=PEFAEF=BEFAEF=BDFADF=BDFPDF=BDP. \begin{align*} \angle A'EP &= |\angle PEF - \angle A'EF| = |\angle BEF - \angle AEF| = |\angle BDF - \angle ADF| \\ &= |\angle B'DF - \angle PDF| = \angle B'DP. \end{align*}
It follows that PAEPBD\triangle PA'E \sim \triangle PB'D, whence
PAPE=PBPD and APEBPD, \frac{PA'}{PE} = \frac{PB'}{PD} \text{ and } \angle A'PE \equiv \angle B'PD,
so APBEPD\angle A'PB' \equiv \angle EPD. Therefore, APBEPD\triangle A'PB' \sim \triangle EPD, and, since EPDAPB\triangle EPD \sim \triangle APB, we get PABPAB\triangle PAB \sim \triangle PA'B'.

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