Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Philippines

Problem:

In ABC\triangle ABC, let DD be the point on side BCBC such that AB+BD=DC+CAAB + BD = DC + CA. The line ADAD intersects the circumcircle of ABC\triangle ABC again at point XAX \neq A. Prove that one of the common tangents of the circumcircles of BDX\triangle BDX and CDX\triangle CDX is parallel to BCBC.

Solution

Solution:

Refer to the figure shown below:
Figure 1

Let VV and WW be the midpoints of arcsBD\operatorname{arcs} BD and CDCD respectively. We claim that VWVW is the desired common tangent. To prove this, let EE and FF be the orthogonal projections of VV and WW onto BCBC. Note that EE and FF are the midpoints of BDBD and CDCD respectively. Now we claim that VE=WFVE = WF. To see this, note that
VE=BVsinVBE=BXsinBXVsinBDXsinBXD2=BXsinBXA2sinBDXsinC2=BXsinBDXsin2C2 \begin{aligned} VE & = BV \sin \angle VBE \\ & = \frac{BX \sin \angle BXV}{\sin \angle BDX} \sin \frac{\angle BXD}{2} \\ & = \frac{BX \sin \frac{\angle BXA}{2}}{\sin \angle BDX} \sin \frac{C}{2} \\ & = \frac{BX}{\sin \angle BDX} \sin^2 \frac{C}{2} \end{aligned}
Similarly, we can prove that WF=CXsinCDXsin2B2WF = \frac{CX}{\sin \angle CDX} \sin^2 \frac{B}{2}. Thus, to prove the claim, it suffices to prove that BXCX=sin2B2sin2C2\frac{BX}{CX} = \frac{\sin^2 \frac{B}{2}}{\sin^2 \frac{C}{2}}. This is because
BXCX=sinBADsinCAD=c/BDb/CD=c(sc)b(sb)=sin2B2sin2C2 \frac{BX}{CX} = \frac{\sin \angle BAD}{\sin \angle CAD} = \frac{c / BD}{b / CD} = \frac{c(s-c)}{b(s-b)} = \frac{\sin^2 \frac{B}{2}}{\sin^2 \frac{C}{2}}
This proves the first claim.

Next, we claim that VWVW is the desired common tangent. Note that from the first claim, VWFEVWFE is a rectangle, since VEF\angle VEF and WFE\angle WFE are both right angles. Let O1O_1 and O2O_2 be the circumcenters of triangles BDXBDX and CDXCDX respectively. Then O1VEFO_1V \perp EF, so since EFVWEF \parallel VW we get O1VVWO_1V \perp VW. Likewise, O2WVWO_2W \perp VW as well, which proves the second claim.

It then follows that VWVW is the desired common tangent parallel to BCBC, and the required conclusion follows.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.