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China Mathematical Olympiad

Geometry Difficulty 7.0 National Olympiad Prove it China

Suppose points OO and II are the circumcenter and incenter of △ABC\triangle ABC respectively, and the inscribed circle of △ABC\triangle ABC is tangent to the sides BCBC, CACA, ABAB at points DD, EE, FF respectively. Lines FDFD and CACA intercept at point PP, while lines DEDE and ABAB intercept at point QQ. And points MM, NN are the midpoint of segments PEPE, QFQF respectively. Prove that OI⊥MNOI \perp MN.

Solution

We first consider △ABC\triangle ABC and segment PFDPFD. By Menelaus theorem we have
CPPA⋅AFFB⋅BDDC=1. \frac{CP}{PA} \cdot \frac{AF}{FB} \cdot \frac{BD}{DC} = 1.
Then
PA=CP⋅AFFB⋅BDDC=(PA+b)p−ap−c. PA = CP \cdot \frac{AF}{FB} \cdot \frac{BD}{DC} = (PA + b) \frac{p-a}{p-c}.
(We define a=BCa = BC, b=CAb = CA, c=ABc = AB, p=12(a+b+c)p = \frac{1}{2}(a+b+c); and without loss of generality, assume a>ca > c.) Then we get
PA=b(p−a)a−c. PA = \frac{b(p-a)}{a-c}.
Further,
PE=PA+AE=b(p−a)a−c+p−a=2(p−c)(p−a)a−c, PE = PA + AE = \frac{b(p-a)}{a-c} + p - a = \frac{2(p-c)(p-a)}{a-c},
ME=12PE=(p−c)(p−a)a−c, ME = \frac{1}{2}PE = \frac{(p-c)(p-a)}{a-c},
MA=ME−AE=(p−c)(p−a)a−c−(p−a)=(p−a)2a−c, MA = ME - AE = \frac{(p-c)(p-a)}{a-c} - (p-a) = \frac{(p-a)^2}{a-c},
MC=ME+EC=(p−c)(p−a)a−c+(p−c)=(p−c)2a−c. MC = ME + EC = \frac{(p-c)(p-a)}{a-c} + (p-c) = \frac{(p-c)^2}{a-c}.
Then we have
MA⋅MC=ME2. MA \cdot MC = ME^2.
That means ME2ME^2 is equal to the power of MM with respect to the circumscribed circle of △ABC\triangle ABC. Further, since MEME is the length of the tangent from MM to the inscribed circle of △ABC\triangle ABC, so ME2ME^2 is also the power of MM with respect to the inscribed circle. Hence, MM is on the radical axis of the circumscribed and inscribed circles of △ABC\triangle ABC.
In the same way, NN is also on the radical axis. Since the radical axis is perpendicular to OIOI, then OI⊥MNOI \perp MN. That completes the proof.

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