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Geometry Difficulty 7.0 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Japan

Let OO be the point of intersection of two diagonals of a square ABCDABCD. Points P,Q,R,SP, Q, R, S lie on the line segments OA,OB,OC,ODOA, OB, OC, OD, respectively, and satisfy OP=3OP = 3, OQ=5OQ = 5, OR=4OR = 4. Here we denote for a line segment XYXY its length also by XYXY. If the point of intersection of lines ABAB and PQPQ, the point of intersection of lines BCBC and QRQR, and the point of intersection of lines CDCD and RSRS are collinear, what is the value of OSOS?

Solution

6023\boxed{\frac{60}{23}}
Let \ell be the length of a side of square ABCDABCD, and OA=OB=OC=OD=rOA = OB = OC = OD = r, OP=aOP = a, OQ=bOQ = b, OR=cOR = c, OS=dOS = d. Also let XX, YY, ZZ be the point of intersection of lines ABAB and PQPQ, lines BCBC and QRQR, lines CDCD and RSRS, respectively. Then, by Menelaus' theorem, we have
OPAPAXBXBQOQ=araBX+BXrbb=1, \frac{OP}{AP} \cdot \frac{AX}{BX} \cdot \frac{BQ}{OQ} = \frac{a}{r-a} \cdot \frac{BX + \ell}{BX} \cdot \frac{r-b}{b} = 1,
from which we obtain BX=a(rb)r(ba)BX = \frac{\ell a (r-b)}{r(b-a)}. Similarly, we get BY=c(rb)r(bc)BY = \frac{\ell c (r-b)}{r(b-c)}, CZ=d(rc)r(cd)CZ = \frac{\ell d (r-c)}{r(c-d)}. Also, we have CY=BC+BY=+c(rb)r(bc)=b(rc)r(bc)CY = BC + BY = \ell + \frac{\ell c (r-b)}{r(b-c)} = \frac{\ell b (r-c)}{r(b-c)}. Since triangles YBXYBX and YCZYCZ are similar, we get
BYCZ=BXCY    c(rb)r(bc)d(rc)r((cd))=a(rb)r(ba)b(rc)r(bc)    cd(ba)=ab(cd). \begin{align*} & BY \cdot CZ = BX \cdot CY \\ \iff & \frac{\ell c (r-b)}{r(b-c)} \cdot \frac{\ell d (r-c)}{r((c-d))} = \frac{\ell a (r-b)}{r(b-a)} \cdot \frac{\ell b (r-c)}{r(b-c)} \\ \iff & cd(b-a) = ab(c-d). \end{align*}

Solving for dd from the last equation above, we get d=abcab+bccad = \frac{abc}{ab+bc-ca}, and substituting the values a=3a = 3, b=5b = 5, c=4c = 4, we get the length of the line segment OSOS to be equal to d=34535+5443=6023d = \frac{3 \cdot 4 \cdot 5}{3 \cdot 5 + 5 \cdot 4 - 4 \cdot 3} = \frac{60}{23}.

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