GeometryDifficulty 5.5AIME, harderProve itUnited States
Problem:
Equilateral triangles △ABD, △ACE, and △BCF are drawn outside △ABC on each of its sides, with centers G, H, and I, respectively.
a) Prove that △GHI is equilateral.
b) Let G′, H′, and I′ be the reflections of G, H, and I across AB, BC, and CA, respectively. Prove that △GHI and △G′H′I′ have the same circumcenter.
Solution
Solution:
a) Let O be the intersection of circles ABD and ACE (besides A). Since opposite angles in a cyclic quadrilateral sum to 180∘, ∠AOB=∠AOC=120∘, so ∠BOC=120∘ as well. Thus, quadrilateral BOCF is also cyclic. Since A and O are the two intersection points of circles with centers G and H, AO⊥GH. Similarly, BO⊥GI. Since ∠AOB=120∘, ∠GHI=60∘. Similarly, ∠HGI=∠HIG=60∘, so △GHI is equilateral.
b) We can use similar logic to show that △G′H′I′ is equilateral as well (since G′, H′, and I′ are the centers of equilateral triangles drawn in the opposite direction on each side of △ABC).
Next, we claim that △CHI′≅△CH′I∼△ABC. We can see that CH′ is a 60∘ rotation of CH about point C, and CI is a 60∘ rotation of CI′ about C in the same direction. Also, △ACH and △BCI are isosceles triangles with base angle 30∘. Thus, CH=CH′=AC/3,CI′=CI=BC/3,∠HCI′=∠ACB=∠H′CI. The desired similarity and congruence follows by SAS, and we conclude that IH′=I′H=AB/3=GG′. By similar logic, HH′=IG′=G′I. Thus by SSS, △IHH′≅△HI′G≅△GG′I. Thus, the vertices of △G′H′I′ are positioned symmetrically with respect to the sides of △GHI, and it follows that the two equilateral triangles have the same center.
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