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Geometry Difficulty 6.5 National Olympiad Prove it Taiwan

In an acute triangle ABCABC, let D,E,FD, E, F be the feet of the altitudes drawn from A,B,CA, B, C respectively. Let I1,I2I_1, I_2 be the incenters of triangle AEFAEF and triangle BDFBDF respectively; let O1,O2O_1, O_2 be the circumcenters of triangle ACI1ACI_1 and triangle BCI2BCI_2 respectively. Prove that: the line I1I2I_1I_2 is parallel to the line O1O2O_1O_2.

Solution

Figure 1

Let CAB=α,ABC=β,BCA=γ\angle CAB = \alpha, \angle ABC = \beta, \angle BCA = \gamma. We first prove that the four points A,B,I1,I2A, B, I_1, I_2 are concyclic. Since AI1AI_1 and BI2BI_2 bisect CAB\angle CAB and ABC\angle ABC respectively, their extensions meet at the incenter II of ABC\triangle ABC. The two points E,FE, F lie on the circle with diameter BCBC, so we have AEF=ABC\angle AEF = \angle ABC and AFE=ACB\angle AFE = \angle ACB. Hence AEF\triangle AEF is similar to ABC\triangle ABC, with ratio of similarity AEAB=cosα\frac{AE}{AB} = \cos \alpha. Since I1I_1 and II are the incenters of these two triangles respectively, we know that I1A=IAcosαI_1A = IA \cos \alpha, and II1=IAI1A=2IAsin2α2II_1 = IA - I_1A = 2IA \sin^2 \frac{\alpha}{2}. By symmetry we know that II2=2IBsin2β2II_2 = 2IB \sin^2 \frac{\beta}{2}. According to

the Law of Sines, in ABI\triangle ABI we have IAsinα2=IBsinβ2IA \sin \frac{\alpha}{2} = IB \sin \frac{\beta}{2}, so we obtain
II1IA=2(IAsinα2)2=2(IBsinβ2)2=II2IB. II_1 \cdot IA = 2\left(IA \sin \frac{\alpha}{2}\right)^2 = 2\left(IB \sin \frac{\beta}{2}\right)^2 = II_2 \cdot IB.
Thus it is proved that A,B,I1,I2A, B, I_1, I_2 are concyclic.
From II1IA=II2IBII_1 \cdot IA = II_2 \cdot IB we can also obtain: for the circles (ACI1)(ACI_1), (BCI2)(BCI_2) and (ABI1I2)(ABI_1I_2), the point II has the same power of a point (here (ACI1)(ACI_1) refers to the circle passing through these three points). Then CICI is the radical axis of the circles (ACI1)(ACI_1) and (BCI2)(BCI_2); from this we obtain that CICI is perpendicular to the line O1O2O_1O_2 joining the centers of these two circles.
Now it suffices to prove that CII1I2CI \perp I_1I_2. Let CICI meet I1I2I_1I_2 at point QQ, so we check whether II1Q+I1IQ=90\angle II_1Q + \angle I_1IQ = 90^\circ holds. Since I1IQ\angle I_1IQ is an exterior angle of ACI\triangle ACI, we obtain
II1Q+I1IQ=II1Q+(ACI+CAI)=II1I2+ACI+CAI. \begin{aligned} \angle II_1Q + \angle I_1IQ &= \angle II_1Q + (\angle ACI + \angle CAI) \\ &= \angle II_1I_2 + \angle ACI + \angle CAI. \end{aligned}
Since A,B,I1,I2A, B, I_1, I_2 are concyclic, we obtain II1I2=β2\angle II_1I_2 = \frac{\beta}{2}, and also ACI=γ2,CAI=α2\angle ACI = \frac{\gamma}{2}, \angle CAI = \frac{\alpha}{2}, so II1Q+I1IQ=α2+β2+γ2=90\angle II_1Q + \angle I_1IQ = \frac{\alpha}{2} + \frac{\beta}{2} + \frac{\gamma}{2} = 90^\circ, which completes the proof.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from zh; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.