Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 6.5 National Olympiad Prove it Taiwan

Let ABCABC be an acute triangle with AB<ACAB < AC. Let Ω\Omega be the circumcircle of ABC\triangle ABC. Let B0B_0 be the midpoint of ACAC, C0C_0 be the midpoint of ABAB, and let Ω1\Omega_1 be the circumcircle of AB0C0\triangle AB_0C_0. Let ω\omega be a circle passing through B0B_0 and C0C_0 that is tangent to Ω\Omega at a point XX different from AA. Let aa be the common tangent line of Ω\Omega and Ω1\Omega_1, and let xx be the common tangent line of Ω\Omega and ω\omega. Prove that: the three lines a,xa, x and B0C0B_0C_0 are concurrent.

(2) Continuing from (1), let DD be the foot of the perpendicular from AA to BCBC, and let GG be the centroid of ABC\triangle ABC. Prove that the three points D,G,XD, G, X are collinear.

Solution

(1) Note that aa is the radical axis of Ω\Omega and Ω1\Omega_1, xx is the radical axis of Ω\Omega and ω\omega, and B0C0B_0C_0 is the radical axis of Ω1\Omega_1 and ω\omega. Based on the fact that the three radical axes determined by three circles are concurrent, we obtain: the three lines a,xa, x and B0C0B_0C_0 are concurrent.

(2) Let OO be the circumcenter of ABC\triangle ABC, A0A_0 be the midpoint of BCBC, and QQ be the foot of the perpendicular from A0A_0 to B0C0B_0C_0. Note that WAO=WQO=WXO=90\angle WAO = \angle WQO = \angle WXO = 90^\circ, so the five points A,W,X,O,QA, W, X, O, Q are concyclic. Furthermore, note that reflection about B0C0B_0C_0 maps AA to DD, and reflection about OWOW maps AA to XX. Therefore,
WQD=WQA=WXA=WAX=WQX. \angle WQD = \angle WQA = \angle WXA = \angle WAX = \angle WQX.
Therefore the three points Q,D,XQ, D, X are collinear.
Finally, note that the spiral similarity (homothety-rotation) centered at the centroid GG, with ratio 1:21:2 and rotation angle 180180^\circ, maps ABC\triangle ABC to A0B0C0\triangle A_0B_0C_0, and simultaneously maps ADAD to A0QA_0Q.
Hence the three points D,G,QD, G, Q are collinear, and thus the three points D,G,XD, G, X are collinear. This completes the proof.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from zh; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.