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Czech-Polish-Slovak Mathematical Match competition problems

Geometry Difficulty 6.5 National Olympiad Prove it Czech-Polish-Slovak Mathematical Match

Let ABCABC be a triangle. Line ℓ\ell is parallel to BCBC and it respectively intersects side ABAB at point DD, side ACAC at point EE, and the circumcircle of the triangle ABCABC at points FF and GG, where points F,D,E,GF, D, E, G lie in this order on ℓ\ell. The circumcircles of triangles FEBFEB and DGCDGC intersect at points PP and QQ. Prove that points A,P,QA, P, Q are collinear.

(Slovakia)

Solution

Let ωB,ωC\omega_B, \omega_C be the circumcircles of triangles FEBFEB and DGCDGC respectively. Since PQPQ is the radical axis of ωB\omega_B and ωC\omega_C, it is sufficient to prove that the powers of AA with respect to ωB\omega_B and ωC\omega_C are equal. If we denote by XX the second intersection of ωB\omega_B and ACAC, and by YY the second intersection of ωC\omega_C and ABAB, then this is equivalent to
AX⋅AE=AY⋅AD. AX \cdot AE = AY \cdot AD.
Lines DEDE and BCBC are parallel, yielding ABAD=ACAE\frac{AB}{AD} = \frac{AC}{AE}, so the above is equivalent to
AX⋅AC=AY⋅AB. AX \cdot AC = AY \cdot AB.
This, in turn, is equivalent to B,Y,X,CB, Y, X, C being concyclic. From angles in ωB\omega_B and ωC\omega_C we have
∠BYC=∠DYC=∠DGCand∠BXC=∠BXE=∠BFE. \angle BYC = \angle DYC = \angle DGC \quad \text{and} \quad \angle BXC = \angle BXE = \angle BFE.
On the other hand, trapezoid BFGCBFGC is inscribed in the circumcircle of ABCABC, so it is isosceles, hence ∠BFE=∠DGC\angle BFE = \angle DGC. We conclude that ∠BYC=∠BXC\angle BYC = \angle BXC, so B,Y,X,CB, Y, X, C are indeed concyclic and we are done. □

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