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Geometry Difficulty 8.5 Shortlist Prove it Hong Kong

Let ABCABC be an acute triangle and HH be the perpendicular foot at the side BCBC from AA. Let DD and EE be points on the segments ABAB and ACAC, FF and GG be the perpendicular feet at BCBC from DD and EE respectively. Let PP be the perpendicular foot at the segment DHDH from EE. Suppose that DG,EF,AHDG, EF, AH are concurrent. Show that APE=CPE\angle APE = \angle CPE.

Solution

Suppose DG,EF,AHDG, EF, AH are concurrent at XX. Let QQ be the point on the line CPCP such that QHPGQH \parallel PG. We only work on the configuration as shown since the other cases are similar.

Firstly, by the parallel lines AHEGAH \parallel EG and QHPGQH \parallel PG, we have CAHCEG\triangle CAH \sim \triangle CEG and CPGCQH\triangle CPG \sim \triangle CQH. Thus, we have
AEEC=HGGC=QPPC. \frac{AE}{EC} = \frac{HG}{GC} = \frac{QP}{PC}.
By the angle bisector theorem, it suffices to prove APPC=AEEC\frac{AP}{PC} = \frac{AE}{EC}. Equivalently, we need to prove PA=PQPA = PQ.

By similar triangles, we have DFEG=DXGX=FHGH\frac{DF}{EG} = \frac{DX}{GX} = \frac{FH}{GH}. Together with the included angles DFH=EGH=90\angle DFH = \angle EGH = 90^\circ, we have DFHEGH\triangle DFH \sim \triangle EGH. This implies DHF=EHG\angle DHF = \angle EHG, and hence AHD=AHE\angle AHD = \angle AHE.

Figure 1

Note that E,P,H,GE, P, H, G are concyclic since EPH=EGH=90\angle EPH = \angle EGH = 90^\circ. This yields
PEH=PGH=QHB, \angle PEH = \angle PGH = \angle QHB,
and so
EHP=90PEH=90QHB=AHQ. \angle EHP = 90^\circ - \angle PEH = 90^\circ - \angle QHB = \angle AHQ.
It follows that DHQ=EHA=DHA\angle DHQ = \angle EHA = \angle DHA.

Next, note that PEG=DHF=GHE=GPE\angle PEG = \angle DHF = \angle GHE = \angle GPE. This implies PG=EGPG = EG. By similar triangles, we obtain
PGQH=CGCH=EGAH=PGAH. \frac{PG}{QH} = \frac{CG}{CH} = \frac{EG}{AH} = \frac{PG}{AH}.
Therefore, we have QH=AHQH = AH. Thus, HPHP is the perpendicular bisector of AQAQ, and hence PA=PQPA = PQ as desired.

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