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Junior Balkan Mathematical Olympiad Shortlist

Geometry Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it JBMO

Problem:
Consider a triangle ABCA B C and let MM be the midpoint of the side BCB C. Suppose ∠MAC=∠ABC\angle M A C=\angle A B C and ∠BAM=105∘\angle B A M=105^{\circ}. Find the measure of ∠ABC\angle A B C.

Solution

Solution:
The angle measure is 30∘30^{\circ}.

Figure 1
Let OO be the circumcenter of the triangle ABMA B M. From ∠BAM=105∘\angle B A M=105^{\circ} follows ∠MBO=15∘\angle M B O=15^{\circ}. Let M′,C′M', C' be the projections of points M,CM, C onto the line BOB O. Since ∠MBO=15∘\angle M B O=15^{\circ}, then ∠MOM′=30∘\angle M O M'=30^{\circ} and consequently MM′=MO2M M'=\frac{M O}{2}. On the other hand, MM′M M' joins the midpoints of two sides of the triangle BCC′B C C', which implies CC′=MO=AOC C'=M O=A O.
The relation ∠MAC=∠ABC\angle M A C=\angle A B C implies CAC A tangent to ω\omega, hence AO⊥ACA O \perp A C. It follows that △ACO≡△OCC′\triangle A C O \equiv \triangle O C C', and furthermore OB∥ACO B \parallel A C.
Therefore ∠AOM=∠AOM′−∠MOM′=90∘−30∘=60∘\angle A O M=\angle A O M'-\angle M O M'=90^{\circ}-30^{\circ}=60^{\circ} and ∠ABM=∠AOM2=30∘\angle A B M=\frac{\angle A O M}{2}=30^{\circ}.

Figure 1

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