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Geometry Difficulty 6.3 National Olympiad Prove it Italy

A circle with diameter ABA B and center OO is given. Let CC be a point on the circle (different from AA and from BB), and draw the line rr parallel to ACA C through OO. Let DD be the intersection of rr with the circle on the opposite side of CC with respect to ABA B.

i) Prove that DOD O is the bisector of CD^BC \widehat{D} B.

ii) Prove that triangle CDBC D B is similar to triangle AODA O D.

Solution

Solution:

We have AC^D=CD^OA \widehat{C} D = C \widehat{D} O, because they are alternate interior angles with respect to the parallels ACA C and DOD O; moreover AC^D=AB^DA \widehat{C} D = A \widehat{B} D, since they subtend the same arc of the circle. Triangle DOBD O B is formed by two radii, and is therefore isosceles; from this we obtain the congruence of its base angles OD^BO \widehat{D} B and OB^DO \widehat{B} D. Hence, summing up, CD^O=AC^D=AB^D=OD^BC \widehat{D} O = A \widehat{C} D = A \widehat{B} D = O \widehat{D} B: DOD O is the bisector of CD^BC \widehat{D} B.

DC^B=DA^BD \widehat{C} B = D \widehat{A} B, since they subtend the same arc. Moreover AO^D=2AB^DA \widehat{O} D = 2 A \widehat{B} D (central angle and inscribed angle subtending the same arc), and hence AO^D=CD^BA \widehat{O} D = C \widehat{D} B. But then triangles AODA O D and CDBC D B are similar by the first criterion of similarity (three congruent angles).

Alternatively, once the congruence of one of the two aforementioned angles has been shown, one can proceed as follows. DOD O is both the bisector and the altitude of triangle CDBC D B (DOD O is parallel to ACA C and ACA C is perpendicular to CBC B, since AC^BA \widehat{C} B subtends a diameter). Therefore triangle CDBC D B is isosceles on base BCB C; but triangle ADOA D O is also isosceles, having two radii as sides. From this it follows that the two triangles are similar by the second criterion of similarity.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from it; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.