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Geometry Difficulty 7.4 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Japan

Let OO be the circumcenter of an acute triangle ABCABC. A circle passing through points A,OA, O intersects lines ABAB and ACAC at points P,QP, Q distinct from AA, respectively. If the lengths of the line segments PQPQ and BCBC are equal, what is the magnitude of the angle formed by the lines PQPQ and BCBC and less than 9090^\circ?

Solution

Let us denote by (XYZ)(XYZ) the directed angle determined by the 3 points X,Y,ZX, Y, Z. More precisely, we set (XYZ)(XYZ) to be equal to α\alpha if the line XYXY comes on top of the line YZYZ when XYXY is rotated around YY counterclockwise by α\alpha degrees. When an integral multiple of 180180^\circ is added to such an α\alpha, the same condition on the line XYXY will be satisfied, so, in the sequel we identify two values differing by an integral multiple of 180180^\circ, when we refer to directed angles. Let us prove the following simple lemma.

Lemma. If four distinct points X,Y,Z,WX, Y, Z, W lie on the circumference of a same circle, then (XZY)=(XWY)(XZY) = (XWY) holds.

Proof. The circumference of the circle are divided into 2 disjoint arcs by the points X,YX, Y. If the 2 points Z,WZ, W lie on a same arc given by this division, then by the well-known theorem on inscribed angles, we have XZY=XWY\angle XZY = \angle XWY, and since these angles have the same direction, we have (XZY)=(XWY)(XZY) = (XWY) in this case. On the other hand, if ZZ and WW lie on different arcs, from a well-known property of a quadrilateral inscribed in a circle, we can conclude that XZY=180XWY\angle XZY = 180^\circ - \angle XWY. Since the direction of these angles are reversed in this situation, we have (XZY)=180((XWY))=(XWY)(XZY) = 180^\circ - (-(XWY)) = (XWY) in this case also.

Let us denote by M,NM, N the midpoints of the sides ABAB and ACAC of the triangle ABCABC, respectively. From the fact that OMAM,ONANOM \perp AM, ON \perp AN it follows that the four points A,O,M,NA, O, M, N lie on the circumference of a same circle, and hence by Lemma, we have (MON)=(MAN)(MON) = (MAN). Since A,O,P,QA, O, P, Q also lie on the circumference of a same circle, we also have (POQ)=(PAQ)(POQ) = (PAQ). Furthermore, since the three points A,P,MA, P, M lie on a same line and so do the three points A,Q,NA, Q, N, we have (MAN)=(PAQ)(MAN) = (PAQ), and therefore, we conclude that (MON)=(POQ)(MON) = (POQ), from which we obtain (MOP)=(MON)(PON)=(POQ)(PON)=(NOQ)(MOP) = (MON) - (PON) = (POQ) - (PON) = (NOQ).

If we denote by BB' the point situated symmetrically to the point BB with respect to the point PP, then we have AB=2MP\vec{AB}' = 2\vec{MP} since BA=2BM\vec{BA} = 2\vec{BM} and BB=2BP\vec{BB}' = 2\vec{BP} hold. Similarly, if we let CC' be the point situated symmetrically to the point CC with respect to the point QQ, then we have AC=2NQ\vec{AC}' = 2\vec{NQ}.

Since MP(NQ)\vec{MP} \cdot (\vec{NQ}) coincides with the vector obtained by rotating OM(ON)\vec{OM} \cdot (\vec{ON}), respectively counterclockwise by 9090^\circ and multiplied by tan(MOP) (=tan(NOQ))\tan(MOP)\ (= \tan(NOQ)), we can conclude that AB(AC)\vec{AB}' \cdot (\vec{AC}') coincides with the vector obtained by rotating OM(ON)\vec{OM} \cdot (\vec{ON}), respectively counterclockwise by 9090^\circ and multiplied by 2tan(MOP)2\tan(MOP). Therefore, BC\vec{B'C}' coincides with the vector obtained by rotating MN\vec{MN} counterclockwise by 9090^\circ and multiplied by 2tan(MOP)2\tan(MOP). In particular, we have BCBC\vec{B'C}' \perp \vec{BC}, since MNMN\vec{MN} \parallel \vec{MN}.

Denote by HH the point of intersection of the lines BCB'C' and BCBC, and let P(Q)P'(Q') be the foot of the perpendicular line drawn from P(Q)P(Q), respectively, to the line BCBC. Then, since P(Q)P'(Q'), respectively, is the midpoint of the line segment HB(HCHB(HC, respectively), we have PQ=12BC=12PQP'Q' = \frac{1}{2}BC = \frac{1}{2}PQ.

If we let θ\theta be the angle formed by the lines PQPQ and BCBC (0θ900^\circ \le \theta \le 90^\circ and θ=0\theta = 0 if the two lines are parallel), then we see that PQ=PQcosθP'Q' = PQ \cos \theta holds so that we get cosθ=12\cos \theta = \frac{1}{2} and therefore, θ=60\theta = 60^\circ.

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