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IRL ABooklet

Geometry Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

A trapezium ABCDABCD with AB∥DCAB \parallel DC and ∣AB∣<∣DC∣|AB| < |DC| is inscribed in a circle, centre OO. The diagonals ACAC and BDBD are mutually perpendicular at PP. If EE is the midpoint of ABAB and FF is the midpoint of DCDC, prove ∣OF∣=∣PE∣|OF| = |PE|.

Solution

First note that ∠BAC=∠BDC\angle BAC = \angle BDC (inscribed angles) and ∠BAC=∠ACD\angle BAC = \angle ACD (alternate angles at AB∥CDAB \parallel CD). Hence, ∠BDC=∠ACD\angle BDC = \angle ACD and triangle CDPCDP is isosceles with ∣CP∣=∣DP∣|CP| = |DP|. This implies that PP is on the perpendicular bisector of CDCD and that ∠PBA=∠BAP=45∘\angle PBA = \angle BAP = 45^\circ (because AC⊥BDAC \perp BD).
The centre OO of the circle is on the perpendicular bisectors of the chords ABAB and CDCD. As ABAB and CDCD are parallel, their perpendicular bisectors are parallel as well. As they have OO in common, they coincide. This means that OPOP is the common perpendicular bisector of ABAB and of CDCD.

Figure 1
Because ∠BEP=∠CPD=90∘\angle BEP = \angle CPD = 90^\circ and ∠PDC=∠PBA=45∘\angle PDC = \angle PBA = 45^\circ, triangles BEP and CPD are right angled and isosceles. In particular, ∣BE∣=∣EP∣|BE| = |EP|. Moreover, ∠BOC=2∠BDC=90∘\angle BOC = 2\angle BDC = 90^\circ (central angle), hence
∠BOE=180∘−∠BOC−∠COF=90∘−∠COF=∠OCF. \angle BOE = 180^\circ - \angle BOC - \angle COF = 90^\circ - \angle COF = \angle OCF.
Since ∣OB∣=∣OC∣|OB| = |OC|, we can now use ASA to see that △OCF\triangle OCF is congruent to △BOE\triangle BOE, thus ∣OF∣=∣BE∣=∣EP∣|OF| = |BE| = |EP|.

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