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Problems of Ukrainian Authors

Geometry Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Ukraine

Consider the acute △ABC\triangle ABC and point DD on the side ABAB. Let's denote the center of the circumscribed circle around the △ACD\triangle ACD as PP and the center of the circumscribed circle around the △BDC\triangle BDC as QQ. Prove that triangles ABCABC and DPQDPQ are similar.

(Bogdan Rublyov)

Solution

Let's denote the radius of the circumscribed circle around the △ACD\triangle ACD as R1R_1, the radius of the circumscribed circle around the △BDC\triangle BDC as R2R_2. So, if CD=lCD = l then by the law of sines (Fig.47):
lsin⁡β=2R1⇒sin⁡β=l2R1. \frac{l}{\sin \beta} = 2R_1 \Rightarrow \sin \beta = \frac{l}{2R_1}.
Herewith, cos⁡φ=DEDQ=l2R1=sin⁡β\cos \varphi = \frac{DE}{DQ} = \frac{l}{2R_1} = \sin \beta.
Therefore, from the acute triangle △ABC\triangle ABC φ=π2−β\varphi = \frac{\pi}{2} - \beta, and similarly ψ=π2−α\psi = \frac{\pi}{2} - \alpha.
Therefore ∠PDQ=φ+ψ=π2−α+π2−β=π−α−β=γ=∠ACB\angle PDQ = \varphi + \psi = \frac{\pi}{2} - \alpha + \frac{\pi}{2} - \beta = \pi - \alpha - \beta = \gamma = \angle ACB.

Figure 1
Fig. 47

Moreover, from the following equation:
QDPD=R1R2=l2sin⁡β⋅2sin⁡αl=sin⁡αsin⁡β=ab=CBAC \frac{QD}{PD} = \frac{R_1}{R_2} = \frac{l}{2\sin\beta} \cdot \frac{2\sin\alpha}{l} = \frac{\sin\alpha}{\sin\beta} = \frac{a}{b} = \frac{CB}{AC}

the sides about the equal angles of our triangles are proportional, so triangles ABCABC and DPQDPQ are similar for any point D∈ABD \in AB. Points A,BA, B do not satisfy the condition, otherwise one of the △ACD\triangle ACD or △BDC\triangle BDC degenerates to a line segment.

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