Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /63 of 136

Geometry Difficulty 7.8 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Hong Kong

Let ABCABC be an equilateral triangle. PP is a point inside the triangle such that CBP=12\angle CBP = 12^\circ and ACP=54\angle ACP = 54^\circ. Find CAP\angle CAP.

Solution

We have CAP=42\angle CAP = 42^\circ.
Construct a point DD such that DAC=DCA=72\angle DAC = \angle DCA = 72^\circ, and BB lies inside DCA\triangle DCA. Since
BCD=ACDACB=7260=12=CBP, \angle BCD = \angle ACD - \angle ACB = 72^\circ - 60^\circ = 12^\circ = \angle CBP,
we have DC//BPDC // BP. Also, note that BDBD is the perpendicular bisector of CACA. Therefore, we have
CDB=12CDA=18 \angle CDB = \frac{1}{2} \angle CDA = 18^\circ
and
PCD=ACDACP=7254=18=CDB. \angle PCD = \angle ACD - \angle ACP = 72^\circ - 54^\circ = 18^\circ = \angle CDB.
This implies BDCPBDCP is an isosceles trapezoid.

Figure 1
Construct a point EE such that DCAEDCAE is an isosceles trapezoid and DC//EADC//EA. Since EDP\triangle EDP is the image of reflection of ACB\triangle ACB in the perpendicular bisector of DCDC, it is equilateral. Now, as
ADE=CDECDA=ACDCDA=7236=36 \angle ADE = \angle CDE - \angle CDA = \angle ACD - \angle CDA = 72^\circ - 36^\circ = 36^\circ
and
EAD=CDA=36=ADE, \angle EAD = \angle CDA = 36^\circ = \angle ADE,
we have EA=ED=EPEA = ED = EP. It follows that
PAC=EACEAP=(180ACD)(9012PEA)=1807290+12(DEADEP)=18+12(10860)=42. \begin{aligned} \angle PAC &= \angle EAC - \angle EAP \\ &= (180^\circ - \angle ACD) - \left(90^\circ - \frac{1}{2} \angle PEA\right) \\ &= 180^\circ - 72^\circ - 90^\circ + \frac{1}{2}(\angle DEA - \angle DEP) \\ &= 18^\circ + \frac{1}{2}(108^\circ - 60^\circ) \\ &= 42^\circ. \end{aligned}

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.