Olympiad Maths Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Belarus

The bisectors of the angles BADBAD and CDACDA of the trapezium ABCDABCD (BCADBC \parallel AD) meet at a point on the perpendicular bisector of the side BCBC.
Prove that either AB=CDAB = CD or AB+CD=ADAB + CD = AD.

Solution

Let PP and MM be marked on ADAD and BCBC so that MPADMP \perp AD and BM=MCBM = MC. By condition, KK belongs to MPMP. Let LL and NN be respectively the feet of the perpendiculars from KK to the lines ABAB and DCDC. Two cases are possible:

1) Both the points lie on the sides ABAB and DCDC (or on their extensions).

2) One of the points lies on the side and the other point lies on the extension of the other side.

Since AKAK and DKDK are bisectors, we have KL=KP=KNKL = KP = KN. Since KK lies on the perpendicular bisector, we have BK=KCBK = KC. Therefore the right-angled triangles BLKBLK and CNKCNK are equal, so LBK=NCK\angle LBK = \angle NCK, BL=CNBL = CN.

For the first case (see Fig. 1) from the isosceles triangle BKCBKC it follows that KBC=KCB\angle KBC = \angle KCB. So
ABC=ABK+KBC=(180LBK)+KBC==(180NCK)+KCB=KCD+KCB=BCD. \begin{aligned} \angle ABC &= \angle ABK + \angle KBC = (180^\circ - \angle LBK) + \angle KBC = \\ &= (180^\circ - \angle NCK) + \angle KCB = \angle KCD + \angle KCB = \angle BCD. \end{aligned}
Therefore, ABC=DCB\angle ABC = \angle DCB, and so the trapezium ABCDABCD is isosceles. (Similarly we can consider the cases when both LL and NN lie on the sides ABAB and DCDC).

Figure 1
Fig. 1

If we have the second case (see Fig. 2), then AL=APAL = AP, PD=DNPD = DN (since AKAK and DKDK are bisectors). Therefore,
AB+DC=(AL+LB)+(DNNC)=AP+PD+(LBNC)=AP+PD=AD, AB + DC = (AL + LB) + (DN - NC) = AP + PD + (LB - NC) = AP + PD = AD,
as required.

Figure 1
Fig. 2

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