Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /5 of 14

Geometry Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it United States

Problem:

Two points AA and CC are marked on a circle; assume the tangents to the circle at AA and CC meet at PP. Let BB be another point on the circle, and suppose PBP B meets the circle again at DD. Show that ABCD=BCDAA B \cdot C D = B C \cdot D A.

Solution

Solution:

Since PAP A is tangent to the circle and ABD\angle A B D is the inscribed angle opposite ADA D, PAD=ABP\angle P A D = \angle A B P. Since APB\angle A P B is shared, it follows from AA similarity that PADPBA\triangle P A D \sim \triangle P B A. Thus we get
ABAD=PBPA \frac{A B}{A D} = \frac{P B}{P A}
Similarly, PCDPBC\triangle P C D \sim \triangle P B C, so
BCCD=PBPC \frac{B C}{C D} = \frac{P B}{P C}
Since PAP A and PCP C are tangents from the same point to the same circle, they are the same length. Thus,
ABAD=BCCDABCD=BCDA \frac{A B}{A D} = \frac{B C}{C D} \Longrightarrow A B \cdot C D = B C \cdot D A

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.