Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Bulgaria

Problem:
Let AA and BB be given points on a circle kk. For an arbitrary point LL on kk denote by MM the point on the line ALA L such that LM=LBL M = L B and LL is between AA and MM. Find the locus of the points MM.

Solution

Solution:
Let CDC D be the diameter of kk such that CDABC D \perp A B and let LAC^BL \in A \widehat{C} B. Then ALB=2α\angle A L B = 2 \alpha is constant and we have AMB=α\angle A M B = \alpha since MLB\triangle M L B is isosceles. Therefore MM belongs to an arc of the circle k1k_{1}, from which the segment ABA B is seen by the angle α\alpha.

Figure 1

Analogously, for LAD^BL \in A \widehat{D} B we have ALB=1802α\angle A L B = 180^{\circ} - 2 \alpha, AMB=90α\angle A M B = 90^{\circ} - \alpha and we conclude that MM belongs to an arc of the circle k2k_{2}, from which the segment ABA B is seen by the angle 90α90^{\circ} - \alpha. Let tt be the tangent line to kk at the point AA and tk1={A,P}t \cap k_{1} = \{A, P\}, tk2={A,Q}t \cap k_{2} = \{A, Q\}. Let λ\lambda be the half-plane with respect to tt, containing kk. Since LL is between AA and MM we have MλM \in \lambda. Therefore the required locus consists of the arcs of k1k_{1} and k2k_{2} belonging to λ\lambda.

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