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Geometry Difficulty 6.6 National olympiad Prove it Czech Republic

In a convex quadrilateral ABCDABCD, AB=BC=CD|AB| = |BC| = |CD|. Let furthermore, for the intersection PP of its diagonals, APD<90|\angle APD| < 90^\circ. Let RR and SS be reflections of AA and DD with respect to BDBD and ACAC, respectively. Prove that the lines BCBC and RSRS are parallel.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

AB=BC=CD=BR=CS.(1) |AB| = |BC| = |CD| = |BR| = |CS|. \qquad (1)
By construction, the points R,SR, S are obviously different and the midpoint XX of the segment ARAR lies on its perpendicular bisector BDBD and the midpoint YY of the segment DSDS lies on its perpendicular bisector ACAC. In the following paragraph we prove that RR lies inside the angle ABCABC and SS inside the angle DCBDCB, as in our figure. Together, this means that points A,D,R,SA, D, R, S lie inside the same half-plane with the boundary line BCBC.

Figure 1

The assumption APD<90|\angle APD| < 90^\circ implies APB>90|\angle APB| > 90^\circ, which for the interior point PP of the base ACAC of the isosceles triangle ABCABC means that ABP<12ABC|\angle ABP| < \frac{1}{2} |\angle ABC|; hence ABR=2ABP<ABC|\angle ABR| = 2 \cdot |\angle ABP| < |\angle ABC|, hence the point RR is actually inside the angle ABCABC. Analogously from the inequality DPC>90|\angle DPC| > 90^\circ for the interior point PP of the base BDBD of isosceles triangle DCBDCB, we conclude that the point SS actually lies inside the angle DCBDCB.

A further consequence of the inequality APD<90|\angle APD| < 90^\circ is that for the marked interior angles of the right triangles APXAPX and DPYDPY, XAP=90APD=YDP|\angle XAP| = 90^\circ - |\angle APD| = |\angle YDP|, i.e. RAC=SDB|\angle RAC| = |\angle SDB|.

Let us return to the equalities (1). According to these, the point BB is the circumcenter of the triangle ARCARC, which evidently lies in the angle ABCABC. Therefore, according to the inscribed angle theorem RBC=2RAC|\angle RBC| = 2 \cdot |\angle RAC|. By a similar reasoning about the circumcenter CC of the triangle BSDBSD in the angle BCDBCD we obtain SCB=2SDB|\angle SCB| = 2 \cdot |\angle SDB|. From the last two paragraphs we get the equality RBC=SCB|\angle RBC| = |\angle SCB|. This, together with (1), leads to the conclusion that (isosceles) triangles RBCRBC and SCBSCB are congruent by the SAS theorem. Hence, their altitudes from the vertices of RR and SS to the side BCBC have the same length. This already implies that BCRSBC \parallel RS.

As in the first solution, we derive (1) and observe that RR lies inside the angle ABCABC. From the condition APD<90|\angle APD| < 90^\circ it also follows that RR lies in the half plane ACDACD.
According to (1), BB is the circumcenter of ARCARC, whose central angle RBARBA with the bisector BDBD is therefore twice the angle RCARCA. Therefore the three angles PBAPBA, RBPRBP and RCPRCP marked in the figure are congruent. Congruence of the last two angles with respect to the previous paragraph already means that the point RR does indeed lie on the circumcircle of BCPBCP. For the point SS the same is true due to the analogous congruence of the angles PCDPCD, SCPSCP and SBPSBP.

Figure 2

It follows from the proof that the points BB, CC, RR, SS lie on one circle, while the points RR and SS lie in the same half-plane with the boundary line BCBC. Hence the congruence of the angles BRCBRC and BSCBSC, which, together with the equality BC=BR=CS|BC| = |BR| = |CS|, means that the isosceles triangles RBCRBC and SCBSCB are congruent. The congruence of their altitudes proves the relation BCRSBC \parallel RS.

Solution 2

We show that the points RR and SS lie on the circumcircle of BCPBCP. We write the detailed proof only for the point RR, for the point SS the proof is analogous.

As in the first solution, we derive (1) and observe that RR lies inside the angle ABCABC. From the condition APD<90|\angle APD| < 90^\circ it also follows that RR lies in the half plane ACDACD.
According to (1), BB is the circumcenter of ARCARC, whose central angle RBARBA with the bisector BDBD is therefore twice the angle RCARCA. Therefore the three angles PBAPBA, RBPRBP and RCPRCP marked in the figure are congruent. Congruence of the last two angles with respect to the previous paragraph already means that the point RR does indeed lie on the circumcircle of BCPBCP. For the point SS the same is true due to the analogous congruence of the angles PCDPCD, SCPSCP and SBPSBP.

* Instead of consideration of the congruent triangles CBRCBR and BCSBCS, it suffices to state, that the congruent segments BRBR and CSCS are symmetrically clustered along the axis of the line segment BCBC.

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