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Geometry Difficulty 7.1 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Czech Republic

We are given a triangle ABCABC. Find the locus of points XX in the plane ABCABC whose reflections through the lines ABAB, BCBC, CACA are vertices of an equilateral triangle.

Solution

For any point XX of the plane ABCABC, let Xa,XbX_a, X_b and XcX_c denote the reflections of XX through the lines BCBC, CACA and ABAB, respectively (Fig. 5). First we prove that the distances between any two of the points Xa,XbX_a, X_b and XcX_c are given in general by formulæ
XaXb=2XCsinγ,XaXc=2XBsinβ,XbXc=2XAsinα,(1) |X_a X_b| = 2|XC| \sin \gamma, \quad |X_a X_c| = 2|XB| \sin \beta, \quad |X_b X_c| = 2|XA| \sin \alpha, \quad (1)
in which α,β,γ\alpha, \beta, \gamma denote the interior angles of the triangle ABCABC as usual.
Figure 1
Fig. 5
It suffices to prove the first equality (1) which is obvious if X=CX = C, because then Xa=Xb(=X)X_a = X_b (= X). If XCX \neq C, then the segment XCXC is a diameter of a circle (see Fig. 5) which passes through the marked orthogonal projections PaP_a and PbP_b of XX onto BCBC and CACA, respectively (Thales' theorem). Since the chord PaPbP_a P_b subtends inscribed angles γ\gamma and 180γ180^\circ - \gamma, Law of Sines implies that PaPb=XCsinγ|P_a P_b| = |XC| \sin \gamma. Using the homothety with centre XX and ratio 22, we conclude that XaXb=2PaPb|X_a X_b| = 2|P_a P_b|, and hence the equalities (1) are established for any point XX.

The proved formulæ (1) imply that our task is to find exactly such points XX in the plane ABCABC that satisfy
2XAsinα=2XBsinβ=2XCsinγ>0 2|XA| \sin \alpha = 2|XB| \sin \beta = 2|XC| \sin \gamma > 0
(recall that the triangle XaXbXcX_a X_b X_c has to be equilateral). Otherwise speaking, we look for all points XX whose distances to AA, BB and CC are positive and proportional as follows:
XA:XB:XC=1sinα:1sinβ:1sinγ=1BC:1AC:1AB |XA| : |XB| : |XC| = \frac{1}{\sin \alpha} : \frac{1}{\sin \beta} : \frac{1}{\sin \gamma} = \frac{1}{|BC|} : \frac{1}{|AC|} : \frac{1}{|AB|}
(we have turned from angles to sides of ABC\triangle ABC using Law of Sines again). Such points XX are determined as common points of the following three circles of Apollonius (i.e. sets of points in the plane which have a specified ratio of distances to two fixed points):
ka:XBXC=ABAC,kb:XAXC=ABBC,kc:XAXB=ACBC(2) k_a : \frac{|XB|}{|XC|} = \frac{|AB|}{|AC|}, \quad k_b : \frac{|XA|}{|XC|} = \frac{|AB|}{|BC|}, \quad k_c : \frac{|XA|}{|XB|} = \frac{|AC|}{|BC|} \quad (2)
It is clear that any point shared by two of the circles lies on the third circle as well. It follows from (2) that AkaA \in k_a, BkbB \in k_b and CkcC \in k_c, which simplifies the construction of the three circles in practice: If the bisectors of interior angles in ABC\triangle ABC cut its interior in segments AKAK, BLBL and CMCM (Fig. 6), then KkaK \in k_a, LkbL \in k_b and MkcM \in k_c (an immediate consequence of the well known proportions such as KB:KC=AB:AC|KB| : |KC| = |AB| : |AC|). Hence the centre of kak_a can be constructed as the intersection point of the line BCBC and the perpendicular bisector of the segment AKAK (excluding the case AB=AC|AB| = |AC|, when kak_a becomes simply the perpendicular bisector of BCBC). Similarly, using the perpendicular bisectors of BLBL and CMCM we get centres of kbk_b and kck_c, respectively.

Figure 2

Fig. 6

Despite of the fact that the requested locus of points XX is determined (by an Euclidean construction), we have to discuss how the number of solutions depends on

a) If the triangle ABCABC is equilateral, the "circles" ka,kb,kck_a, k_b, k_c are in fact perpendicular bisectors of the sides of ABC\triangle ABC. Consequently, the problem has a unique solution — a point XX which coincides with the incentre of ABC\triangle ABC.

b) If the triangle ABCABC is isosceles (but not equilateral), say if ABAC=BC|AB| \neq |AC| = |BC|, then the circle kck_c is a perpendicular bisector of the base ABAB which meets the circle kak_a in two points, because kck_c meets the interior of the chord AKAK, and hence the both arcs AKAK of the circle kak_a as well. Consequently, the problem has two solutions.

c) Suppose that the triangle ABCABC is scalene, with the largest side, say ABAB (as in Fig. 6). Then the ratio XB/XC|XB|/|XC| for points XkaX \in k_a is larger than 11, because of AkaA \in k_a. Hence BB lies in the interior kak_a, while CC lies in its exterior. The last together with AkaA \in k_a implies that LL, an interior point of ACAC, lies in the exterior of kak_a. Thus kak_a intersects the chord BLBL of kbk_b which means that kak_a and kbk_b meet in two points. Consequently, the problem has two solutions.

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