Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 6.5 National Olympiad Prove it Soviet Union

Problem:

Given a triangle ABCABC, and DD on the segment ABAB, EE on the segment ACAC, such that AD=DE=ACAD = DE = AC, BD=AEBD = AE, and DEDE is parallel to BCBC. Prove that BDBD equals the side of a regular 10-gon inscribed in a circle with radius ACAC.

Solution

Solution:

DA=DEDA = DE, so DAEDAE is isosceles. DEDE is parallel to BCBC, so ABCABC is isosceles, so BA=AC/(2cosA)BA = AC / (2 \cos A). Hence BD=AC/(2cosA)ACBD = AC / (2 \cos A) - AC. But AE=2ACcosAAE = 2 AC \cos A, so we have an equation for c=cosAc = \cos A: 4c2+2c1=04c^2 + 2c - 1 = 0.

2π/5,4π/5,6π/5,8π/52\pi/5, 4\pi/5, 6\pi/5, 8\pi/5 and 10π/510\pi/5 are the roots of: real part of (cosθ+isinθ)5=1(\cos \theta + i \sin \theta)^5 = 1. Expanding this gives that cos2π/5\cos 2\pi/5, cos4π/5\cos 4\pi/5, cos6π/5\cos 6\pi/5, cos8π/5\cos 8\pi/5 and 11 are the roots of 16c520c3+5c1=016c^5 - 20c^3 + 5c - 1 = 0. Dividing by (c1)(c - 1) gives 16c4+16c34c24c+1=(4c2+2c1)216c^4 + 16c^3 - 4c^2 - 4c + 1 = (4c^2 + 2c - 1)^2. So cos2π/5\cos 2\pi/5 (=cos8π/5= \cos 8\pi/5) and cos4π/5\cos 4\pi/5 (=cos6π/5= \cos 6\pi/5) are the roots of 4c2+2c1=04c^2 + 2c - 1 = 0.

We know that A<90A < 90^\circ (since A=CA = C and their sum is less than 180180^\circ). Hence A=2π/5A = 2\pi/5. So BD=2ACcos2π/5=2ACsinπ/10BD = 2 AC \cos 2\pi/5 = 2 AC \sin \pi/10, which is the side length for a regular 10-gon inscribed in a circle radius ACAC.

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