Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Let ABCDABCD be a convex quadrilateral such that ABC=BCD=θ\angle ABC = \angle BCD = \theta for some angle θ<90\theta < 90^{\circ}. Point XX lies inside the quadrilateral such that XAD=XDA=90θ\angle XAD = \angle XDA = 90^{\circ} - \theta. Prove that BX=XCBX = XC.

Solutions — 4

Solution 1

Solution:
Figure 1
Let lines ABAB and CDCD meet at TT. Notice that
ATD=180ABCDBC=1802θAXD=1802(90θ)=2θ \begin{aligned} & \angle ATD = 180^{\circ} - \angle ABC - \angle DBC = 180^{\circ} - 2\theta \\ & \angle AXD = 180^{\circ} - 2(90^{\circ} - \theta) = 2\theta \end{aligned}
Therefore, AA, TT, XX, and DD are concyclic. In particular, this implies that XTA=90θ=XTD\angle XTA = 90^{\circ} - \theta = \angle XTD. Thus, XTXT bisects BTC\angle BTC. However, notice that TBC\triangle TBC is isosceles, so XTXT is actually the perpendicular bisector of BCBC, implying that BX=XCBX = XC.

Solution 2

Solution:
Figure 2
Without loss of generality, let AB>CDAB > CD. Draw the circle γ\gamma centered at XX and passing through AA and DD. Let this circle intersect CDCD again at point PDP \neq D. Then, notice that
APD=AXD2=θ \angle APD = \frac{\angle AXD}{2} = \theta
implying that APBCAP \parallel BC. Combining with ABC=BCP\angle ABC = \angle BCP, we get that quadrilateral APCBAPCB is isosceles trapezoid. Since XγX \in \gamma, we have XX lies on the perpendicular bisector of APAP, which is the same as the perpendicular bisector of BCBC, so we are done.

Solution 3

Solution:
Figure 3
Let the perpendicular bisector of ADAD intersect BCBC at point KK. Notice that
AXK=90+XAD=180θ=ABKA,B,X,K are concyclic.XBC=XAK \begin{aligned} \angle AXK = 90^{\circ} + \angle XAD = 180^{\circ} - \theta = \angle ABK &\Longrightarrow A, B, X, K \text{ are concyclic.} \\ &\Longrightarrow \angle XBC = \angle XAK \end{aligned}
Similarly, we get that XCB=XDK\angle XCB = \angle XDK. However, since both XX and KK lie on the perpendicular bisector of ADAD, implying that XBC=XCB\angle XBC = \angle XCB.

Solution 4

Solution:
Fix θ\theta and points AA, BB, and CC. Animate point DD along the fixed line through CC. Since XAD\triangle XAD has a fixed shape, it follows that XX moves linearly along a fixed line. Since we want to show that XX lies on the perpendicular bisector of BCBC, which is fixed, it suffices to prove this for only two locations of DD.
- When ADBCAD \parallel BC, it follows that ABCDABCD is an isosceles trapezoid, implying the result.
- When D=CD = C, we notice that
AXC=2θ=2ABC, \angle AXC = 2\theta = 2\angle ABC,
implying that XX is the circumcenter of ABC\triangle ABC, and the result follows.

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