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Geometry Difficulty 8.9 Shortlist Prove it United States

Let ABCABC be an acute scalene triangle inscribed in circle Ω\Omega. Circle ω\omega, centered at OO, passes through BB and CC and intersects sides ABAB and ACAC at EE and DD, respectively. Point PP lies on major arc BAC^\widehat{BAC} of Ω\Omega. Prove that lines BDBD, CECE, OPOP are concurrent if and only if triangles PBDPBD and PCEPCE have the same incenter.

(This problem was suggested by Qiang Song.)

Figure 1

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

We first prove the “if” direction by assuming that PP lies on Ω\Omega and triangles PBDPBD and PCEPCE have the same incenter II. We consider the diagram shown above. (We can adjust our proof easily for other possible configurations.) Because PIPI bisects both BPD\angle BPD and EPC\angle EPC, EPB=DPC\angle EPB = \angle DPC. Because ABCPABCP is cyclic, PBE=PBA=PCA=PCD\angle PBE = \angle PBA = \angle PCA = \angle PCD. Thus, we have EPB=DPC\angle EPB = \angle DPC and PBE=PCD\angle PBE = \angle PCD, so triangles PEBPEB and PDCPDC are similar. In other words, there is a spiral similarity centered at PP sending triangle PDCPDC to triangle PEBPEB. Therefore, there is a spiral similarity centered at PP sending triangle PEDPED to triangle PBCPBC. In particular, we have
DEP=CBPandPDE=DCB=ACB, \angle DEP = \angle CBP \quad \text{and} \quad \angle PDE = \angle DCB = \angle ACB,
from which it follows that
EPC=EPDDPC=180DEPPDE+180CDPPCD=(360PDECDP)DEPPCD=EDCCBPPCA. \begin{align*} \angle EPC &= \angle EPD - \angle DPC = 180^\circ - \angle DEP - \angle PDE + 180^\circ - \angle CDP - \angle PCD \\ &= (360^\circ - \angle PDE - \angle CDP) - \angle DEP - \angle PCD \\ &= \angle EDC - \angle CBP - \angle PCA. \end{align*}
Because BCDEBCDE and ABCPABCP are cyclic, we obtain
EPC=EDCCBPPCA=180CBECBPPBA=180CBECEP=1802CBE. \begin{align*} \angle EPC &= \angle EDC - \angle CBP - \angle PCA \\ &= 180^\circ - \angle CBE - \angle CBP - \angle PBA \\ &= 180^\circ - \angle CBE - \angle CEP = 180^\circ - 2\angle CBE. \end{align*}
Because OO is the circumcenter of acute triangle BECBEC, COE=2CBE\angle COE = 2\angle CBE. Thus, EPC=1802CBE=180COE\angle EPC = 180^\circ - 2\angle CBE = 180^\circ - \angle COE or EPC+COE=180\angle EPC + \angle COE = 180^\circ, implying the CPEOCPEO is cyclic.
In exactly the same way, we can show that BPDOBPDO is cyclic. Now consider the three cyclic quadrilaterals BCDEBCDE, BPDOBPDO, CPEOCPEO. Their pairwise radical axes are lines BDBD, POPO, CECE, from which it follows that lines BDBD, POPO, CECE meet at the radical center of the three circumcircles.

Solution 2

First, we prove the “only if” direction. We define P1P_1 and II as in the second part of the first solution. The discussion of the configuration remains the same. It remains only to present the proofs of the two steps.

Step 1: Because OXOP1=OE2=OC2OX \cdot OP_1 = OE^2 = OC^2, triangles OEXOEX and OP1EOP_1E are similar and triangles OCXOCX and OP1COP_1C are similar. Thus, by also noting that triangle EOCEOC is isosceles, we see that
EP1O=OEX=OEC=ECO=XCO=OP1C. \angle EP_1O = \angle OEX = \angle OEC = \angle ECO = \angle XCO = \angle OP_1C.
Therefore, OEP1COEP_1C is cyclic, and OP1OP_1 bisects EPC\angle EPC. Hence, we have OI=OC=OEOI = OC = OE. It is well known that II is thus the incenter of triangle P1CEP_1CE. Here, we use the fact that if triangle MNKMNK is inscribed in a circle δ\delta, then its incenter lies on the circle centered at the midpoint ZZ of the arc NKNK not containing MM with radius ZN=ZKZN = ZK. In the exact same way, we can show that II is the incenter of triangle P1BDP_1BD. We conclude that triangles P1BDP_1BD and P1CEP_1CE share the same incenter.

Step 2: Because BP1DOBP_1DO and CP1EOCP_1EO are cyclic, we have BP1O=BDO\angle BP_1O = \angle BDO and OP1C=OECOP_1C = \angle OEC, and so
BP1C=BP1O+OP1C=BDO+OEC. \angle BP_1C = \angle BP_1O + \angle OP_1C = \angle BDO + \angle OEC.
On the other hand, because OO is the circumcenter of triangles BDCBDC and BECBEC, we have BDO=OBD=90DCB=90ACB\angle BDO = \angle OBD = 90^\circ - \angle DCB = 90^\circ - \angle ACB and OEC=ECO=90CBE=90CBA\angle OEC = \angle ECO = 90^\circ - \angle CBE = 90^\circ - \angle CBA. Combining the last three identities gives
BP1C=BDO+OEC=90ACB+90CBA=BAC, \angle BP_1C = \angle BDO + \angle OEC = 90^\circ - \angle ACB + 90^\circ - \angle CBA = \angle BAC,
implying that AA, BB, CC, and P1P_1 lie on a circle, and P=P1P = P_1. This completes the proof of the “only if” direction.

We now prove the “if” direction by assuming that PP satisfies the following property P\mathcal{P}:
PP lies on Ω\Omega and triangle PBDPBD and PCEPCE have the same incenter.

As shown in the first part of the first solution, EPD=BAC=EAD\angle EPD = \angle BAC = \angle EAD, implying that AEDPAEDP is cyclic. That is, PP is the intersection of the circumcircles of triangles ABCABC and ADEADE other than AA. This intersection is unique. On the other hand, by the "only if" direction, the intersection of ray OXOX and Ω\Omega also satisfies property P\mathcal{P}. By the uniqueness of the two constructions, we conclude that PP is the intersection of ray OXOX and Ω\Omega, completing our proof.

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