Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Consider a tetrahedron ABCDABCD and the points M,NM, N on the edges ACAC and BDBD, respectively. Prove that for any point PP of the segment MNMN, PMP \neq M, PNP \neq N, there exists a unique pair of points (X,Y)(X, Y), with XX and YY on the edges ABAB and CDCD, respectively, such that the points X,PX, P and YY are collinear.

Solution

Since PMP \neq M and PNP \neq N, if X,Y,PX, Y, P are collinear, we have X{A,B}X \notin \{A, B\} and Y{C,D}Y \notin \{C, D\}. Indeed, if X=AX = A, then XY(ACD)XY \subset (ACD) and thus P(ACD)P \in (ACD), false. The other situations are analogous.

2023 ROMANIAN MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD – FINAL ROUND

Existence: Since P(MN)P \in (MN), the point PP lies in the interior of the triangle ANCANC. Denote {Q}=APCN\{Q\} = AP \cap CN.
From (CN)Int(BCD)(CN) \subset \text{Int}(BCD), it follows that QInt(BCD)Q \in \text{Int}(BCD), thus the line BQBQ intersects the open segment CDCD. Denote {Y}=BQ(CD)\{Y\} = BQ \cap (CD). Because P(AQ)(ABY)P \in (AQ) \subset (ABY), we deduce that PP lies in the interior of the triangle ABYABY, thus the line YPYP intersects the open segment ABAB. Denote {X}=PY(AB)\{X\} = PY \cap (AB). The pair (X,Y)(X, Y) satisfies the statement.

Uniqueness: Assume that a pair of points (X,Y)(X', Y') exists, with X(AB)X' \in (AB), Y(CD)Y' \in (CD), (X,Y)(X,Y)(X, Y) \neq (X', Y'), such that the points XX', PP and YY' are collinear. We consider YYY' \neq Y (the situation XXX' \neq X is analogous). If X=XX' = X, then YXPCDY' \in XP \cap CD, therefore Y=YY' = Y, false. Consequently XXX' \neq X, so the distinct straight lines XYXY and XYX'Y' intersect at PP. If α=(XY,XY)\alpha = (XY, X'Y'), we obtain XX=ABαXX' = AB \subset \alpha and YY=CDαYY' = CD \subset \alpha, thus the points A,B,CA, B, C and DD are coplanar, false. Consequently, the pair (X,Y)(X, Y) is unique.

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