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Geometry Difficulty 6.2 National Olympiad Prove it Taiwan

In the plane, there is a scalene triangle ABCABC and a point PP outside it. On rays ABAB, ACAC take points BB' and CC' respectively, such that AB=ACAB' = AC, AC=ABAC' = AB. Let point QQ be the reflection of PP with respect to line BCBC. Suppose the circumcircles of BBP\triangle BB'P and CCP\triangle CC'P meet again at point PP', and the circumcircles of BBQ\triangle BB'Q and CCQ\triangle CC'Q meet again at point QQ'. Let points OO, OO' be the circumcenters of ABC\triangle ABC and ABC\triangle AB'C' respectively. Prove that
(1) OO', PP', QQ' are collinear.
(2) OPOQ=OA2O'P' \cdot O'Q' = OA^2

Solution

1. Clearly BB, CC, BB', CC' are concyclic, since they form an isosceles trapezoid. Applying the radical axis theorem to this circle and the circumcircles of BBP\triangle BB'P, CCP\triangle CC'P, we get that AA, PP, PP' are collinear. Similarly AA, QQ, QQ' are collinear. Since APAP=ABAB=AQAQAP \cdot AP' = AB \cdot AB' = AQ \cdot AQ', it follows that PP, QQ, PP', QQ' are concyclic.

2. Let O1O_1 be the other intersection point of the circumcircles of BBO\triangle BB'O' and CCO\triangle CC'O'. As in 1., AA, OO', O1O_1 are collinear, and QQ, QQ', OO', O1O_1 are concyclic.

3. Observe that ABC\triangle ABC and ABC\triangle AB'C' are symmetric with respect to the internal angle bisector of A\angle A, and BCA=B\angle B'C'A = \angle B, so we get
OAC=90B=90BCA\angle OAC = 90^\circ - \angle B = 90^\circ - \angle B'C'A, i.e. AOBCAO \perp B'C'. Using the symmetry again, we know that
AOBCAO' \perp BC. Therefore AOO1PQAO'O_1 \parallel PQ.

4. Let aa, bb, cc, RR, ha\triangle h_a be the three side lengths, the circumradius, the area of the triangle, and the AA-altitude respectively. Since AOAO1=ABACAO' \cdot AO_1 = AB \cdot AC,
AO1=ABACAO=bcR=bcsinARsinA=4Δa=2ha. AO_1 = \frac{AB \cdot AC}{AO'} = \frac{bc}{R} = \frac{bc \sin A}{R \sin A} = \frac{4\Delta}{a} = 2h_a.
Hence the reflection of AA with respect to line BCBC is O1O_1. Therefore PQAO1PQAO_1 is an isosceles trapezoid.

Figure 1

5. By 1. and 3., we know QQP=QPP=PAO1\angle QQ'P' = \angle QPP' = \angle PAO_1. Also by 2. and 4., we know QQO=QO1A=PAO1\angle QQ'O' = \angle QO_1A = \angle PAO_1. From this it is proved that OO', PP', QQ' are collinear.
Since AQP=QQP=PAO1=PAO1\angle AQ'P' = \angle QQ'P' = \angle PAO_1 = \angle P'AO_1, we get that OAO'A is tangent to the circumcircle of APQ\triangle AP'Q' at AA, so OPOQ=OA2=OA2O'P' \cdot O'Q' = O'A^2 = OA^2. Q.E.D.

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