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Geometry Difficulty 6.5 National olympiad Prove it Estonia

Circles c1,c2c_1, c_2 with centers O1,O2O_1, O_2, respectively, intersect at points PP and QQ and touch circle cc internally at points A1A_1 and A2A_2, respectively. Line PQPQ intersects circle cc at points BB and DD. Lines A1BA_1B and A1DA_1D intersect circle c1c_1 the second time at points E1E_1 and F1F_1, respectively, and lines A2BA_2B and A2DA_2D intersect circle c2c_2 the second time at points E2E_2 and F2F_2, respectively. Prove that E1,E2,F1,F2E_1, E_2, F_1, F_2 lie on a circle whose center coincides with the midpoint of line segment O1O2O_1O_2.

Solution

Figure 1
Figure 6

Solution:

Let the radii of c1,c2c_1, c_2 and cc be r1,r2r_1, r_2 and rr, respectively. Homothety of ratio rr1\frac{r}{r_1} with center A1A_1 takes circle c1c_1 to circle cc and points E1,F1E_1, F_1 to points B,DB, D, respectively. Thus it takes line E1F1E_1F_1 to line BDBD. Analogously, homothety of ratio rr2\frac{r}{r_2} with center A2A_2 takes line E2F2E_2F_2 to line BDBD. Consequently, lines E1F1E_1F_1 and E2F2E_2F_2 are parallel to line BDBD (Fig. 6).

Furthermore, note that BE1BA1=BPBQ|BE_1| \cdot |BA_1| = |BP| \cdot |BQ| and BE2BA2=BPBQ|BE_2| \cdot |BA_2| = |BP| \cdot |BQ|, implying BE1BA1=BE2BA2|BE_1| \cdot |BA_1| = |BE_2| \cdot |BA_2|. Thus triangles BE1E2BE_1E_2 and BA2A1BA_2A_1 are similar and
BE1E2=BA2A1=BDA1=E1F1A1=12E1O1A1=90O1E1A1,(3) \angle BE_1E_2 = \angle BA_2A_1 = \angle BDA_1 = \angle E_1F_1A_1 = \frac{1}{2} \angle E_1O_1A_1 = 90^\circ - \angle O_1E_1A_1, \quad (3)
whence
E2E1O1=180BE1E2O1E1A1=90.(4) \angle E_2E_1O_1 = 180^\circ - \angle BE_1E_2 - O_1E_1A_1 = 90^\circ. \quad (4)
Analogously, E1E2O2=90\angle E_1E_2O_2 = 90^\circ. Hence the quadrilateral E1E2O2O1E_1E_2O_2O_1 is a right-angled trapezoid (or rectangle in the case r1=r2r_1 = r_2) and the midpoint of the line segment O1O2O_1O_2 lies on the perpendicular bisector of the line segment E1E2E_1E_2, thus being equidistant from E1E_1 and E2E_2. Analogously, the midpoint of the line segment O1O2O_1O_2 is also equidistant from F1F_1 and F2F_2.

As line O1O2O_1O_2 is perpendicular to BDBD, line O1O2O_1O_2 is also perpendicular to E1F1E_1F_1. Thus the line segment O1O2O_1O_2 entirely lies on the perpendicular bisector of E1F1E_1F_1. This means that the midpoint of line segment O1O2O_1O_2 is equidistant from E1E_1 and F1F_1.

Altogether, we have shown that these four points lie on a circle with its center at the midpoint of the line segment O1O2O_1O_2.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.