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Geometry Difficulty 7.6 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Ireland

A point CC lies on a line segment ABAB between AA and BB and circles are drawn having ACAC and CBCB as diameters. A common tangent to both circles touches the circle with ACAC as diameter at PCP \neq C and the circle with CBCB as diameter at QCQ \neq C.
Prove that APAP, BQBQ and the common tangent to both circles at CC all meet at a single point which lies on the circumference of the circle with ABAB as diameter.

Solution

Let APAP and BQBQ intersect at DD and let RR and SS be the centres of the circles. Join PRPR, QSQS, PCPC, QCQC and DCDC and note the circles touch at CC. Let DCDC meet PQPQ at EE. Since PRPR and QSQS are both perpendicular to PQPQ, PRPR is parallel to QSQS and so PRA=QSC\angle PRA = \angle QSC which implies that triangles PRAPRA and QSCQSC are similar since both triangles are isosceles. It follows that PAC=QCB\angle PAC = \angle QCB.
Figure 1
Since APC=90\angle APC = 90^\circ (angle in semicircle), we have 90=PAC+PCA=QCB+PCA90^\circ = \angle PAC + \angle PCA = \angle QCB + \angle PCA, hence PCQ=90\angle PCQ = 90^\circ. Also CQB=90\angle CQB = 90^\circ (angle in semicircle).
Because DPC=PCQ=DQC=90\angle DPC = \angle PCQ = \angle DQC = 90^\circ, we also have PDQ=90\angle PDQ = 90^\circ, which shows that DD lies on the circumference of the circle on ABAB as diameter. In addition PCQDPCQD is a rectangle and since the diagonals of a rectangle bisect each other EP=EQ|EP| = |EQ|, hence EE lies on the radical axis of the two circles and so does CC. This means that ECEC, and so DCDC as well, is the common tangent at CC. This completes the proof.

Let DD be the intersection point of the lines APAP and BQBQ.
Because PQPQ is a tangent to the circle with diameter ACAC, the Alternate Segment Theorem gives QPC=PAC\angle QPC = \angle PAC. The angle DPC\angle DPC is a right angle, because APC\angle APC is standing on a diameter. Hence, DPQ=90QPC=90PAC\angle DPQ = 90^\circ - \angle QPC = 90^\circ - \angle PAC.
Working with the circle of diameter CBCB we obtain in a similar way PQC=QBC\angle PQC = \angle QBC and DQP=90PQC=90QBC\angle DQP = 90^\circ - \angle PQC = 90^\circ - \angle QBC.
Figure 2
Considering triangle DPQDPQ we now obtain
PDQ=180(DPQ+DQP)=180(90PAC+90QBC)=PAC+QBC. \begin{aligned} \angle PDQ &= 180^\circ - (\angle DPQ + \angle DQP) \\ &= 180^\circ - (90^\circ - \angle PAC + 90^\circ - \angle QBC) \\ &= \angle PAC + \angle QBC. \end{aligned}
Using the angle sum in triangle DABDAB this implies 2PDQ=1802\angle PDQ = 180^\circ, i.e. PDQ\angle PDQ is a right angle. This shows that DD is on the circle that has ABAB as a diameter. This also shows that PCQDPCQD is a rectangle, which implies that PDC=PQC\angle PDC = \angle PQC.
Together with PQC=QBC\angle PQC = \angle QBC, which we have seen above, we now obtain
PAC+PDC=PAC+QBC=PDQ=90. \angle PAC + \angle PDC = \angle PAC + \angle QBC = \angle PDQ = 90^\circ.
From triangle DACDAC we now see that ACD=90\angle ACD = 90^\circ, hence DD is on the common tangent to both circles at CC.

Let DD be the intersection point of the lines APAP and BQBQ.
The angles APC\angle APC and CQB\angle CQB are standing on diameters, hence these are right angles. Therefore, the quadrilateral PCQDPCQD is cyclic and so
PDC=PQCandQPC=QDC. \angle PDC = \angle PQC \quad \text{and} \quad \angle QPC = \angle QDC.
Figure 3
Because PQPQ is a tangent to the circle with diameter ACAC, the Alternate Segment Theorem gives QPC=PAC\angle QPC = \angle PAC. Similarly, PQC=QBC\angle PQC = \angle QBC. Combined with the equations above, we obtain
PDC=QBCandQDC=PAC \angle PDC = \angle QBC \quad \text{and} \quad \angle QDC = \angle PAC
which shows that the triangles ADCADC, DBCDBC and ABDABD are similar. As a consequence, DCA=DCB=BDA\angle DCA = \angle DCB = \angle BDA. Because DCA+DCB=180\angle DCA + \angle DCB = 180^\circ, these three angles are right angles. This implies that DD is on the circle with diameter ABAB and DD is on the common tangent to both circles at CC.

Let DD be the intersection point of the line APAP and the common tangent at CC of the circles with diameters ACAC and CBCB. Let NN be the intersection point of PQPQ and CDCD. Because tangents from a point to a circle are of equal length, we have NP=NC|NP| = |NC| and NC=NQ|NC| = |NQ|, hence NN is the circumcentre of triangle PCQPCQ. As NN is on PQPQ, PCQ\angle PCQ is a right angle. This implies that QPC+PQC=90\angle QPC + \angle PQC = 90^\circ.
The angles APC\angle APC and CQB\angle CQB are standing on diameters, hence these are right angles. Therefore, PAC+PCA=QCB+QBC=90\angle PAC + \angle PCA = \angle QCB + \angle QBC = 90^\circ.
Because PQPQ is a tangent to the circles with diameters ACAC and CBCB, the Alternate Segment Theorem gives QPC=PAC\angle QPC = \angle PAC and PQC=QBC\angle PQC = \angle QBC. Together with equations obtained earlier, we now have PAC=QPC=QCB\angle PAC = \angle QPC = \angle QCB and QBC=PQC=PCA\angle QBC = \angle PQC = \angle PCA.
Since CDCD is perpendicular to ABAB, we also have PAC+PDC=90\angle PAC + \angle PDC = 90^\circ from which we obtain PDC=PQC\angle PDC = \angle PQC. This equality implies that DD is on the circumcircle of triangle PCQPCQ. So, DD is the intersection point of the common tangent at CC and the circumcircle of triangle PCQPCQ.
Figure 4
We now let EE be the intersection point of the line BQBQ and the common tangent at CC of the circles with diameters ACAC and CBCB. We do not know at this stage if E=DE = D, as indicated in the diagram.
From the equations obtained above and QBC+QEC=90\angle QBC + \angle QEC = 90^\circ we obtain QEC=QPC\angle QEC = \angle QPC. This equality implies that EE is on the circumcircle of triangle PCQPCQ. So, EE is the intersection point of the common tangent at CC and the circumcircle of triangle PCQPCQ, which means that E=DE = D. This proves that APAP, BQBQ and the common tangent at CC are concurrent.
To finish, we just need to note that ADB=PDC+QEC=90\angle ADB = \angle PDC + \angle QEC = 90^\circ from the equations obtained before, and this implies that the point D=ED = E is on the circle with diameter ABAB.

Let DD be one of the intersection points of the circle with diameter ABAB and the common tangent at CC of the circles with diameters ACAC and CBCB. Connect DD to AA and let PP' be the intersection point of this line with the circle that has diameter ACAC. Connect DD to BB and let QQ' be the intersection point of this line with the circle that has diameter CBCB. We wish to prove that P=PP' = P and Q=QQ' = Q. This follows when we have shown that PQP'Q' is a common tangent to the circles with diameters ACAC and CBCB.
Figure 5
To prove this, we first notice that, since APC\angle AP'C, CQB\angle CQ'B and ADB\angle ADB are right angles, we have DAC=QCB\angle DAC = \angle Q'CB and DBC=PCA\angle DBC = \angle P'CA.
Because CDCD is the radical axis of the circles with diameters ACAC and CBCB, the point DD has the same power with respect to these two circles, that is DPDA=CD2=DQDB|DP'| \cdot |DA| = |CD|^2 = |DQ'| \cdot |DB| and so
DADB=DQDP \frac{|DA|}{|DB|} = \frac{|DQ'|}{|DP'|}
which implies that triangles DABDAB and DQPDQ'P' are similar in such a way that
DBC=DPQandDAC=DQP. \angle DBC = \angle DP'Q' \quad \text{and} \quad \angle DAC = \angle DQ'P'.
Using the initially noticed equalities, we see now that
PCA=DPQandQCB=DQP. \angle P'CA = \angle DP'Q' \quad \text{and} \quad \angle Q'CB = \angle DQ'P'.
The converse of the Alternate Segment Theorem implies now that PQP'Q' is tangent to the circles with diameters ACAC and CBCB. This shows that P=PP' = P and Q=QQ' = Q and finishes the proof.

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