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Geometry Difficulty 8.6 Shortlist Prove it Balkan Mathematical Olympiad

Let ADAD, BEBE, and CFCF denote the altitudes of triangle ABC\triangle ABC. Points EE' and FF' are the reflections of EE and FF over ADAD, respectively. The lines BFBF' and CECE' intersect at XX, while the lines BEBE' and CFCF' intersect at the point YY. Prove that if HH is the orthocenter of ABC\triangle ABC, then the lines AXAX, YHYH, and BCBC are concurrent.

Solution

We will prove that the desired point of concurrency is the midpoint of BCBC. Assume that ABC\triangle ABC is acute. Let (ABC)5(ABC)^5 intersect (AEF)(AEF) at the point YY'; we will prove that Y=YY = Y'.
Figure 1
Figure 7: G7
Using the fact that HH is the incenter of DEF\triangle DEF we get that DD, EE', FF and DD, FF', EE are triples of collinear points. Furthermore,
90=6AEH=AFH=AEH=AFHF,E,H(AEFY). 90^\circ = \angle^6 AEH = \angle AF'H = \angle AE'H = \angle AFH \Rightarrow F', E', H \in (AEFY').
We will now prove that the points YY', BB, DD, FF' are concyclic. Indeed,
YBD=YBC=YAC=YAE=YFE(Y,B,D,F). \angle Y'BD = \angle Y'BC = \angle Y'AC = \angle Y'AE = \angle Y'F'E \Rightarrow (Y', B, D, F').
Now, as
FYB=FDC=EDC=CAB=CYB, \angle F'Y'B = \angle F'DC = \angle EDC = \angle CAB = \angle CY'B,
the points CC, FF', YY' are collinear. Similarly we get that BB, EE', YY' are collinear, which implies
Y=Y=(ABC)(AEF). Y' = Y = (ABC) \cap (AEF).
(XYZ)(XYZ) denotes the circumcircle of XYZ\triangle XYZ
\angle denotes a directed angle modulo π\pi
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Since we proved this property using directed angles, we know that it is also true for obtuse triangles.
Notice that the points AA, BB, CC, HH form an orthocentric system; in other words HH is the orthocenter of ABC\triangle ABC and AA is the orthocenter HBC\triangle HBC. Furthermore, notice that FF' is to ABC\triangle ABC as EE' is to HBC\triangle HBC and that EE' is to ABC\triangle ABC as FF' is to HBC\triangle HBC. This means that XX is to HBC\triangle HBC as YY is to ABC\triangle ABC and, as we know the proven property is also true for obtuse triangles, we get
X=(HBC)(AEF). X = (HBC) \cap (AEF).
By Reflecting the Orthocenter Lemma we know that in a triangle ABCABC, the reflection of its orthocenter over the midpoint of BCBC is the antipode of AA w.r.t. (ABC)(ABC). Applying this Lemma on the triangles ABCABC and HBCHBC we get that YHYH and AXAX both go through the midpoint of BCBC, thus finishing the solution. □

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