Olympiad Maths Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Czech Republic

For a trapezoid ABCDABCD (ABCDAB \parallel CD) it holds BC=AB+CDBC = AB + CD. Prove that
(i) there is a point of a circle with diameter BCBC on the leg ADAD,
(ii) there is a point of a circle with diameter ADAD on the leg BCBC.

Solution

(i) Let MM, NN be the centers of the legs BCBC, ADAD. We show that the point NN lies on the circle with diameter BCBC.
A well-known identity yields
MN=AB+CD2=12BC. MN = \frac{AB + CD}{2} = \frac{1}{2} BC.
It means that the point NN has the same distance from the center MM of the circle with diameter BCBC as radius of that circle. So point NN lies on that circle.

(ii) With respect to the given condition we can find a point EE on the leg BCBC such that BE=AB|BE| = |AB| and EC=CD|EC| = |CD|.

Figure 1

The triangles ABEABE, ECDECD are isosceles and the lines ABAB and CDCD are parallel, thus the fact follows:
AED=180AEBCED==12((1802AEB)+(1802CED))==12(ABE+DCE)=90. \begin{align*} \angle AED &= 180^\circ - \angle AEB - \angle CED = \\ &= \frac{1}{2}((180^\circ - 2\angle AEB) + (180^\circ - 2\angle CED)) = \\ &= \frac{1}{2}(\angle ABE + \angle DCE) = 90^\circ. \end{align*}
So we finished the second part.

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