Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /6 of 10

Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Netherlands

Three consecutive vertices AA, BB, and CC of a regular octagon (8-gon) are the centres of circles that pass through neighbouring vertices of the octagon. The intersection points PP, QQ, and RR of the three circles form a triangle (see figure).
Figure 1
Prove that triangle PQRPQR is equilateral.

Solution

An octagon can be subdivided into six triangles (see figure on the left). Together, the angles of those six triangles add up to the same number of degrees as the eight angles of the octagon. Since the angles of any triangle add up to 180180 degrees, this means that the eight angles of the octagon add up to 6180=10806 \cdot 180^\circ = 1080^\circ. Hence, each of the angles of the regular octagon is 181080=135\frac{1}{8} \cdot 1080^\circ = 135^\circ.

We now consider the figure from the problem statement (see figure on the right). Line segment BPBP bisects angle ABCABC, so ABP=PBC=6712\angle ABP = \angle PBC = 67\frac{1}{2}^\circ. Since triangles ABPABP and BCPBCP are isosceles (as AB=AP|AB| = |AP| and BC=CP|BC| = |CP|), we also have APB=BPC=6712\angle APB = \angle BPC = 67\frac{1}{2}^\circ and BAP=BCP=180135=45\angle BAP = \angle BCP = 180^\circ - 135^\circ = 45^\circ.

In triangles ABQABQ and BCRBCR all sides have the same length. These triangles are therefore equilateral and all angles are 6060^\circ. From this, we deduce that PAQ=BAQBAP=15\angle PAQ = \angle BAQ - \angle BAP = 15^\circ. In the same way, we find PCR=15\angle PCR = 15^\circ. Furthermore, triangles PAQPAQ and PCRPCR are isosceles (since AP=AQ|AP| = |AQ| and CP=CR|CP| = |CR|), so APQ=BPC=6712\angle APQ = \angle BPC = 67\frac{1}{2}^\circ and CPR=8212\angle CPR = 82\frac{1}{2}^\circ.

By mirror symmetry, PQPQ and PRPR have the same length, so PQRPQR is an isosceles triangle with apex PP. We have already determined all angles at PP, except QPR\angle QPR. We deduce that
QPR=360APQAPBBPCCPR=3602671228212=60. \begin{aligned} \angle QPR &= 360^\circ - \angle APQ - \angle APB - \angle BPC - \angle CPR \\ &= 360^\circ - 2 \cdot 67\frac{1}{2}^\circ - 2 \cdot 82\frac{1}{2}^\circ = 60^\circ. \end{aligned}
From this and the fact that PQRPQR is isosceles, we directly conclude that PQRPQR is equilateral. \square

Figure 2
Figure 3

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.