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Geometry Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Prove it Asia Pacific Mathematics Olympiad (APMO)

Let ABCABC' be a triangle and DD the foot of the altitude from AA. Let EE and FF be on a line passing through DD such that AEAE is perpendicular to BEBE, AFAF is perpendicular to CFCF, and EE and FF are different from DD. Let MM and NN be the midpoints of the line segments BCBC and EFEF, respectively. Prove that ANAN is perpendicular to NMNM.

Solution

Let PP be such that ADMPADMP is a rectangle. Choose points QQ and RR on the line APAP such that QBDAQ B D A and ADCRA D C R are rectangles. Points QQ, BB and DD lie on the circle of diameter ABAB, hence ADEQADEQ is a cyclic quadrilateral. Similarly, RR, CC and DD lie on the circle of diameter ACAC, hence ADFRADFR is a cyclic quadrilateral.

The two quadrilaterals share a side, and have the same supporting lines for the other two sides. Since they are cyclic, the remaining two sides EQEQ and RFRF must be parallel. Thus EE, QQ, RR and FF are vertices of a trapezoid.

On the other hand, in rectangle QBCRQ B C R, MM is the midpoint of BCBC, and MPMP is parallel to QBQB, so PP is the midpoint of QRQR. Since NN is the midpoint of EFEF, we obtain that, in trapezoid QEFRQ E F R, NPNP is parallel to QEQE.

This implies that quadrilateral ADNPADNP is cyclic, having the sides parallel to the sides of ADFRADFR. Moreover, AA lies on the circle circumscribed to this quadrilateral, because the other three vertices of the rectangle ADMPADMP lie on it. Hence the quadrilateral ADMNADMN is cyclic.

Consequently, ANM=180ADM=90\angle ANM = 180^{\circ} - \angle ADM = 90^{\circ}.

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