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Geometry Difficulty 6.8 National Olympiad Prove it Philippines

Problem:

In ABC\triangle ABC, AB>ACAB > AC. Point PP is on line BCBC such that APAP is tangent to its circumcircle. Let MM be the midpoint of ABAB, and suppose the circumcircle of PMA\triangle PMA meets line ACAC again at NN. Point QQ is the reflection of PP with respect to the midpoint of segment BCBC. The line through BB parallel to QNQN meets PNPN at DD, and the line through PP parallel to DMDM meets the circumcircle of PMB\triangle PMB again at EE. Show that the lines PMPM, BEBE, and ACAC are concurrent.

Solution

Solution:

Figure 1

Let lines BEBE and ACAC meet at RR. It suffices to show that the points PP, MM and RR are collinear. Since APAP is tangent to the circumcircle of ABCABC and PNAMPNA M is cyclic, we have PNM=PAB=ACB\angle PNM = \angle PAB = \angle ACB and BAC=MPN\angle BAC = \angle MPN. Thus, triangles MPNMPN and BACBAC are similar with MPMN=ABBC\frac{MP}{MN} = \frac{AB}{BC}. Also, since DMDM and PEPE are parallel and DPEMDPEM is cyclic, we get PMD=MPE=ABR\angle PMD = \angle MPE = \angle ABR, so that triangles PMDPMD and ABRABR are similar with PDPM=ARAB\frac{PD}{PM} = \frac{AR}{AB}.

Now, observe that PER=PEB=180PMB=180PNR\angle PER = \angle PEB = 180^\circ - \angle PMB = 180^\circ - \angle PNR, so PERNPERN is cyclic and CRB=DPE=NDM\angle CRB = \angle DPE = \angle NDM. We see that triangles CRBCRB and NDMNDM are similar with CBCR=MNND\frac{CB}{CR} = \frac{MN}{ND}. With QC=PBQC = PB, we have QB=PCQB = PC and Thales' theorem gives PDDN=PBBQ=PBPC\frac{PD}{DN} = \frac{PB}{BQ} = \frac{PB}{PC}. Thus, applying Menelaus' theorem on triangle PACPAC, we obtain

CRARAMMBBPPC=CBNDMNPMPDABPDDN=PMMNBCAB=1 \frac{CR}{AR} \cdot \frac{AM}{MB} \cdot \frac{BP}{PC} = \frac{CB \cdot ND}{MN} \cdot \frac{PM}{PD \cdot AB} \cdot \frac{PD}{DN} = \frac{PM}{MN} \cdot \frac{BC}{AB} = 1

implying that PP, MM and RR are collinear as desired.

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