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Geometry Difficulty 8.4 Shortlist Prove it India

Let ABC\triangle ABC be an acute angled triangle with AC>ABAC > AB and incircle ω\omega. Let ω\omega touch the sides BC,CABC, CA, and ABAB at D,ED, E, and FF respectively. Let XX and YY be points outside ABC\triangle ABC satisfying
BDX=XEA=YDC=AFY=45. \angle BDX = \angle XEA = \angle YDC = \angle AFY = 45^\circ.
Prove that the circumcircles of AXY\triangle AXY, AEF\triangle AEF and ABC\triangle ABC meet at a point ZAZ \neq A.

Solutions — 3

Solution 1

Figure 1
We have that ABACAB \neq AC, so (AEF)(AEF) and (ABC)(ABC) are not tangent at AA, thus there is a point SAS \neq A which is the second intersection of (AEF)(AEF) and (ABC)(ABC).

Consider an inversion about the incircle and let the inverse of a point PP be denoted by PP'. Note that AA' is the midpoint of EFEF. SS' is the foot from DD onto EFEF as SAS' \neq A' is on the nine point circle of DEF\triangle DEF as well as on EFEF.

Also, since XX satisfies XEI=XDI=45\angle XEI = \angle XDI = 45^\circ, point XX' satisfies EXI=DXI=45\angle EX'I = \angle DX'I = 45^\circ. Note that XX lies on the same side of DEDE as II, which in turn is the same side of DEDE as FF since DEF\triangle DEF is acute.

Taking DEFDEF to be the reference triangle, the problem becomes the following:

Inverted Problem: In acute DEF\triangle DEF, let X,YX', Y' be points such that DXEDX'E and FYDFY'D are isosceles right triangles with XX' on the same side of DEDE as FF, and YY' on the same side of DFDF as EE. Let AA' be the midpoint of EFEF and SS' the foot onto EFEF from DD. Prove that points A,S,X,YA', S', X', Y' are concyclic.

We will prove this by showing that XAY=XSY=90\angle X'A'Y' = \angle X'S'Y' = 90^\circ.

Claim 1. XSY=90\angle X'S'Y' = 90^\circ.

Proof. Observe that XSY=XSD+DSY=XED+DFY=45+45=90\angle X'S'Y' = \angle X'S'D + \angle DS'Y' = \angle X'ED + \angle DFY' = 45^\circ + 45^\circ = 90^\circ

Claim 2. XAYX'A'Y' is a right isosceles triangle with a right angle at AA'.

Proof. To prove this, we will prove that XAYXMD\triangle X'A'Y' \sim \triangle X'MD where MM is the midpoint of DEDE. But observe that by spiral similarity, this is equivalent to showing that XMAXDY\triangle X'MA' \sim \triangle X'DY'.

Now,
XMA=90FDE=45+45FDE=FDX+YDEFDE=XDY \angle X'MA' = 90^{\circ} - \angle FDE = 45^{\circ} + 45^{\circ} - \angle FDE = \angle FDX' + \angle Y'DE - \angle FDE = \angle X'DY'

XMAXDY    XAYXMD    XAY=XMD=90 \triangle X'MA' \sim \triangle X'DY' \implies \triangle X'A'Y' \sim \triangle X'MD' \implies \angle X'A'Y = \angle X'MD = 90^{\circ}
Thus, we are done!

Solution 2

An alternate proof of the Claim 2 of the first solution:

Claim 2 of the first solution. In acute DEF\triangle DEF, let X,YX', Y' be points such that DXEDX'E and FYDFY'D are isosceles right triangles with XX' on the same side of DEDE as FF, and YY' on the same side of DFDF as EE. Let AA' be the midpoint of EFEF. Prove that XAY\triangle X'A'Y' is a isosceles right triangle with a right angle at AA'.

Proof. Consider the composition of rotations
Γ=Rot(A,180)Rot(Y,90)Rot(X,90) \Gamma = \operatorname{Rot}(A', 180^\circ) \circ \operatorname{Rot}(Y', 90^\circ) \circ \operatorname{Rot}(X', 90^\circ)
The angles add up to 360360^\circ, so Γ\Gamma is a translation. However, Γ\Gamma keeps EE fixed, thus Γ\Gamma is the identity map. Hence, we have
Rot(A,180)=Rot(Y,90)Rot(X,90) \operatorname{Rot}(A', 180^\circ) = \operatorname{Rot}(Y', 90^\circ) \circ \operatorname{Rot}(X', 90^\circ)
and then we finish by noting that the center of rotation of the composition of the two rotations Rot(Y,90)\operatorname{Rot}(Y', 90^\circ), Rot(X,90)\operatorname{Rot}(X', 90^\circ) is given by a point OO such that OXY=45\angle OX'Y' = 45^\circ, and OYX=45\angle OY'X' = 45^\circ.

Solution 3

Lemma 1. In triangle ABCABC, let midpoints M,N,KM, N, K of sides BC,CA,ABBC, CA, AB respectively and PP be the foot of the AA-altitude on BCBC. Suppose X,YX, Y are points in the plane with XN=ANXN = AN and XNACXN \perp AC and YK=AKYK = AK and YKABYK \perp AB. Then X,Y,P,MX, Y, P, M are concyclic.

Proof. Let QQ be the point on the AA-altitude such that AQ=12BCAQ = \frac{1}{2}BC. Observe that the rotation with centre XX of measure 9090^\circ that sends CC to AA maps line BCBC to the line through AA perpendicular to BCBC. In particular, since AQ=CMAQ = CM, we see that MM maps to QQ. Hence MXQ=90\angle MXQ = 90^\circ. Similarly, MYQ=90\angle MYQ = 90^\circ and combined with MPQ=90\angle MPQ = 90^\circ, we conclude that X,Y,P,MX, Y, P, M lie on the circle with diameter MQMQ.

Lemma 2. In triangle ABCABC, the bisector of angle BACBAC meets the circumcircle of the triangle at MM. Points PP and QQ lie on line AMAM such that PBA=QBC\angle PBA = \angle QBC. Then MPMQ=MB2MP \cdot MQ = MB^2.

Proof. It suffices to show MBQ=MPB\angle MBQ = \angle MPB. This follows as
MBQ=MBC+QBC=MAC+PBA=PAB+PBA=MPB \angle MBQ = \angle MBC + \angle QBC = \angle MAC + \angle PBA = \angle PAB + \angle PBA = \angle MPB
and the other configurations can be dealt with by directed angles.

Now back to the original problem. Erect isosceles right-angled triangles DXEDX'E and DYFDY'F in-wards of DEF\triangle DEF with X,YX', Y' the vertices with the right angle. By Lemma 2 applied to CDE,BDF\triangle CDE, \triangle BDF, it follows that X,XX, X' and Y,YY, Y' are inverses in the incircle. The inverse of (AEF)(ABC)(AEF) \cap (ABC) in the incircle is the foot of perpendicular KK from DD to EFEF and that of AA is the midpoint of EFEF. The conclusion follows from Lemma 1 in DEF\triangle DEF. \square

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