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Croatian Mathematical Olympiad

Geometry Difficulty 7.0 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Croatia

Let kk be a circle centred at OO. Let AB‾\overline{AB} be a chord of that circle and MM its midpoint. Tangents on kk at points AA and BB intersect at TT. The line ℓ\ell goes through TT, intersects the shorter arc AB\text{AB} at the point CC and the longer arc AB\text{AB} at the point DD, so that ∣BC∣=∣BM∣|BC| = |BM|.
Prove that the circumcentre of the triangle ADM is the reflection of O across the line AD.

Solution

Since CC and DD are on kk, the power of the point TT with respect to kk equals ∣TB∣2=∣TC∣⋅∣TD∣|TB|^2 = |TC| \cdot |TD|.

Figure 1

Furthermore, since the right-angled triangles TBMTBM and TOBTOB are similar, we have ∣TB∣2=∣TM∣⋅∣TO∣|TB|^2 = |TM| \cdot |TO|. Therefore, ∣TC∣⋅∣TD∣=∣TM∣⋅∣TO∣|TC| \cdot |TD| = |TM| \cdot |TO|, i.e. the quadrilateral CDOMCDOM is cyclic.

Let point C′C' be the intersection of kk and the line DMDM, while α=∠C′MC\alpha = \angle C'MC. Now we have
∠C′C′M=∠C′C′D=12∠COD=12∠CMD=12(180∘−∠C′MC)=90∘−12α, \angle C'C'M = \angle C'C'D = \frac{1}{2}\angle COD = \frac{1}{2}\angle CMD = \frac{1}{2}(180^\circ - \angle C'MC) = 90^\circ - \frac{1}{2}\alpha,
therefore ∠MCC′=180∘−α−(90∘−12α)=90∘−12α=∠CC′M\angle MCC' = 180^\circ - \alpha - (90^\circ - \frac{1}{2}\alpha) = 90^\circ - \frac{1}{2}\alpha = \angle CC'M, i.e. ∣C′M∣=∣CM∣|C'M| = |CM|, meaning that C′C' is the reflection of CC across the line OMOM, and ∣AC′∣=∣AM∣|AC'| = |AM| holds. Let M′M' be the point on kk different from C′C' such that ∣AM′∣=∣AC′∣|AM'| = |AC'|. Then
∠M′DA=∠C′DA=∠MDA. \angle M'DA = \angle C'DA = \angle MDA.
We can conclude that triangles MDAMDA and M′DAM'DA are congruent (two pairs of congruent sides, one pair of congruent angles, and both are obtuse), so M′M' is the reflection of MM across the line ADAD. The fact that OO is the circumcentre of the triangle ADM′ADM' completes the proof.

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