Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / Estonija /19 of 32

Estonija, 2010

Geometry Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Estonia

Circle cc passes through vertices AA and BB of an isosceles triangle ABCABC, whereby line ACAC is tangent to it. Prove that circle cc passes through the circumcenter or the incenter or the orthocenter of triangle ABCABC. (Seniors.)

Solution

Consider three cases ∣AB∣=∣AC∣|AB| = |AC|, ∣BC∣=∣BA∣|BC| = |BA|, and ∣CA∣=∣CB∣|CA| = |CB|.

1. We show that if ∣AB∣=∣AC∣|AB| = |AC| (Fig. 4), then circle cc passes through the circumcenter of ABCABC. Let OO be the point at the same side from ABAB as CC that is the intersection of the perpendicular bisector of side ABAB and circle cc. Then ∠OAB=∠OBA\angle OAB = \angle OBA and, by inscribed angles theorem,

Figure 1
Fig. 4

∠OBA=∠OAC\angle OBA = \angle OAC. Hence OO lies on the bisector of angle CABCAB. Since ∣AB∣=∣AC∣|AB| = |AC|, this angle bisector is also the perpendicular bisector of side BCBC. Consequently, OO is the intersection point of the perpendicular bisectors of the sides of triangle ABCABC.

2. For the case ∣BC∣=∣BA∣|BC| = |BA| (Fig. 5), we show that circle cc passes through the orthocenter of triangle ABCABC. Let EE be the foot of the altitude of triangle ABCABC drawn from BB and let HH be the second intersection point of this altitude with circle cc (in the special case with tangency and no intersection, take H=BH = B). By the inscribed angles theorem, ∠EBA=∠EAH\angle EBA = \angle EAH. Thus ∠ACB+∠CAH=∠CAB+∠EBA=90∘\angle ACB + \angle CAH = \angle CAB + \angle EBA = 90^\circ whence AH⊥BCAH \perp BC. Consequently, HH is the orthocenter.

Figure 2
Fig. 5

3. Finally, we show that if ∣CA∣=∣CB∣|CA| = |CB| (Fig. 6), then circle cc passes through the incenter of triangle ABCABC. Let II be the intersection point of the bisector of angle CABCAB with circle cc. By the inscribed angles theorem, ∠CAI=∠IBA\angle CAI = \angle IBA. Hence ∠BAI=∠IBA\angle BAI = \angle IBA whence II lies on the perpendicular bisector of side ABAB. As ∣CA∣=∣CB∣|CA| = |CB|, this perpendicular bisector is also the bisector of angle ACBACB. Consequently, II is the intersection point of the angle bisectors.

Figure 3
Fig. 6

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