Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it Hong Kong

Let ABCDABCD be a quadrilateral inscribed in a circle Γ\Gamma such that AB=BC=CDAB = BC = CD. Let MM and NN be the midpoints of ADAD and ABAB respectively. The line CMCM meets Γ\Gamma again at EE. Prove that the tangent at EE to Γ\Gamma, the line ADAD and the line CNCN are concurrent.

Solution

Let PP be the intersection of the tangent at BB to Γ\Gamma and the line ADAD. Then we have
ABP=ACB=BAC. \angle ABP = \angle ACB = \angle BAC.
This shows BP//CABP // CA. Note that CB//APCB // AP since ABCDABCD is an isosceles trapezoid. Therefore, PBCAPBCA is a parallelogram. As NN is the midpoint of ABAB, the diagonal CPCP passes through NN.

Next, the areas of CDE\triangle CDE and CAE\triangle CAE are the same since MD=MAMD = MA. This implies
12DC×DEsinCDE=12AC×AEsinCAE. \frac{1}{2} DC \times DE \sin \angle CDE = \frac{1}{2} AC \times AE \sin \angle CAE.
As CDE+CAE=180\angle CDE + \angle CAE = 180^\circ, we have sinCDE=sinCAE\sin \angle CDE = \sin \angle CAE. Therefore,
EDEA=CACD=BDBA. \frac{ED}{EA} = \frac{CA}{CD} = \frac{BD}{BA}.
This shows ABDEABDE is a harmonic quadrilateral, and hence the tangent at EE to Γ\Gamma passes through PP. This proves the tangent at EE, the line ADAD and the line CNCN are concurrent at PP.

Figure 1

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