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Geometry Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it Taiwan

There is a ABC\triangle ABC and a point OO in the plane, with XX on ray ACAC. Take a point X1X_1 on ray BABA such that AX=AX1AX = AX_1, with AA lying between BB and X1X_1. Then take a point X2X_2 on ray BCBC such that XX2OC\overline{XX_2} \parallel \overline{OC}.

Prove: as XX moves along ray ACAC, the locus of the circumcenter of BX1X2\triangle BX_1X_2 is part of a line.

Solution

Take two fixed points XX and YY on ACAC, and construct the corresponding X1,X2,Y1,Y2X_1, X_2, Y_1, Y_2. Let the circumcircle of BX1X2BX_1X_2 and the circumcircle of BY1Y2BY_1Y_2 meet again at point TT. Then it suffices to prove that for any point ZZ on ray ACAC, the corresponding Z1,Z2Z_1, Z_2 are concyclic with B,TB, T; in this case the circumcenter of BZ1Z2BZ_1Z_2 will lie on the perpendicular bisector of segment BTBT.

(Note: If the points BB and TT coincide, then the circumcircle of BX1X2\triangle BX_1X_2 and the circumcircle of BY1Y2\triangle BY_1Y_2 are tangent at point BB. In this case the problem becomes proving that the circumcircle of BZ1Z2\triangle BZ_1Z_2 is also tangent to the circumcircle of BX1X2\triangle BX_1X_2 at point BB.)

Figure 1

Note that, since XX2YY2ZZ2XX_2 \parallel YY_2 \parallel ZZ_2, we have
X2Y2:Y2Z2=XY:YZ=X1Y1:Y1Z1. X_2Y_2 : Y_2Z_2 = XY : YZ = X_1Y_1 : Y_1Z_1.
Also Y1TY2=Y1BY2=X1BX2=X1TX2\angle Y_1TY_2 = \angle Y_1BY_2 = \angle X_1BX_2 = \angle X_1TX_2,
so Y1TX1=X2TY2\angle Y_1TX_1 = \angle X_2TY_2. On the other hand, TY1X1=TY2X2\angle TY_1X_1 = \angle TY_2X_2, so
TX1Y1TX2Y2. \triangle TX_1Y_1 \sim \triangle TX_2Y_2.
Combining the above, the four points TX1Y1Z1TX_1Y_1Z_1 and the four points TX2Y2Z2TX_2Y_2Z_2 are similar. Therefore
Z1TX1=Z2TX2, \angle Z_1TX_1 = \angle Z_2TX_2,
hence
Z1TZ2=X1TX2=X1BX2. \angle Z_1TZ_2 = \angle X_1TX_2 = \angle X_1BX_2.
That is, BTZ1Z2BTZ_1Z_2 are concyclic, as desired.

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