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Iranian Mathematical Olympiad

Geometry Difficulty 6.3 National Olympiad Prove it Iran

Let ABCABC be a triangle with A^≠90∘\hat{A} \ne 90^\circ. Points E,FE, F are the foot of altitudes from B,CB, C to AC,ABAC, AB respectively. The angle bisector of A^\hat{A} intersects EF,BCEF, BC at M,NM, N respectively. Perpendicular lines to EFEF at MM and to BCBC at NN intersect each other at PP. Prove that PP lies on the median of vertex AA.

Solution

Let QQ be the midpoint of BCBC, A′A' be the reflection of AA into OO, where OO is the circumcenter of triangle ABCABC, and HH be the orthocenter of ABCABC.

Figure 1

Quadrilateral BHCA′BHCA' is a parallelogram, therefore A′HA'H passes through QQ. It also intersects the circumcircle again at RR where
HRA^=A′RA^=90∘. \widehat{HRA} = \widehat{A'RA} = 90^\circ.
Which means RR lies on circle with diameter AHAH. Consider three circles, circle with diameter AHAH, circumcircle of triangle ABCABC and circle passing through B,H,CB, H, C. The radical axes of these three circles are lines AR,EF,BCAR, EF, BC, and they are concurrent at a point KK.
AH,HQAH, HQ are altitudes of triangle AKQAKQ, therefore HH is also the orthocenter of triangle AKQAKQ. So if SS is the intersection of KH,AQKH, AQ, we have ASH^=90∘\widehat{ASH} = 90^\circ which means SS also lies on the circle with diameter AHAH. Now we have
KH⋅KS=KR⋅KA=KB⋅KC. KH \cdot KS = KR \cdot KA = KB \cdot KC.
Therefore B,H,S,CB, H, S, C lie on a circle. Note that SEF^=SHC^=SBC^\widehat{SEF} = \widehat{SHC} = \widehat{SBC} and similarly, SFE^=SCB^\widehat{SFE} = \widehat{SCB}. So we conclude that triangles SEFSEF and SBCSBC are similar. Also, since ANAN is the angle bisector of A^\widehat{A}, we have
MEMF=AEAF=ABAC=BNCN \frac{ME}{MF} = \frac{AE}{AF} = \frac{AB}{AC} = \frac{BN}{CN}
⇒ΔSME^∼ΔSNB^⇒SME^=SNB^=SNK^. \Rightarrow \widehat{\Delta SME} \sim \widehat{\Delta SNB} \Rightarrow \widehat{SME} = \widehat{SNB} = \widehat{SNK}.
Therefore points K,M,S,NK, M, S, N lie on a circle. Let P′P' be the second intersection point of this circle with AQAQ. It's easy to see that P′MK^=P′SK^=90∘\widehat{P'MK} = \widehat{P'SK} = 90^\circ and similarly P′NK^=90∘\widehat{P'NK} = 90^\circ. Hence P≡P′P \equiv P' and the claim of the problem is concluded. ■

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