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Geometry Difficulty 6.6 National olympiad Prove it Belarus

The graph of the parabola y=x2y = x^2 is drawn on the Cartesian plane OxyOxy. A triangle ABCABC is inscribed in the parabola so that its side ABAB is parallel to the OxOx axis and point CC lies between the line ABAB and the OxOx axis. It is known that the length of the side ABAB is 1 less than the length of the altitude CHCH of the triangle ABCABC.
Find the value of the angle ACBACB.

Solution

Answer: ACB=45\angle ACB = 45^\circ.
Let A(a;a2)A(a; a^2) and C(c;c2)C(c; c^2) (see the Fig.). Since ABOxAB \parallel Ox, we see that AA and BB are symmetric with respect to the axis OyOy. Then their ordinates are equal and abscissae differ by sign.
Hence B(a;a2)B(-a; a^2). Since HH belongs to ABAB and CHOyCH \parallel Oy, we have H(c;a2)H(c; a^2).
Then CH=a2c2CH = a^2 - c^2 and (without loss of generality we assume a>0a > 0) AB=2aAB = 2a. By condition,
a2c2=2a+1.() a^2 - c^2 = 2a + 1. \quad (*)
Moreover, AH=acAH = a - c and BH=c+aBH = c + a. By Pythagorean theorem, from the right-angled triangle HCAHCA and HCBHCB we obtain
CA2=(a2c2)2+(ac)2andCB2=(a2c2)2+(c+a)2. CA^2 = (a^2 - c^2)^2 + (a - c)^2 \quad \text{and} \quad CB^2 = (a^2 - c^2)^2 + (c + a)^2.
By the law of cosines, from ABC\triangle ABC we obtain
AB2=CA2+CB22CACBcosACB. AB^2 = CA^2 + CB^2 - 2CA \cdot CB \cdot \cos \angle ACB.
Figure 1

Replacing the lengths of ABAB, CACA and CBCB by their obtained expressions and taking into account ()(*), we obtain
4a2=(a2c2)2+(ac)2+(a2c2)2+(c+a)2 2(a2c2)2+(ac)2(a2c2)2+(c+a)2cosACB=2(a2c2)2 +2(a2+c2)2(ac)(a+c)2+1(a+c)(ac)2+1cosACB= +2(a2+c2)2(a2c2)2+2(a2+c2) 2(a2c2)(a2c2)2+(a+c)2+(ac)2+1cosACB =()2(2a+1)2+ +2(a2+a22a1)2(2a+1)(2a+1)2+2a2+2c2+1cosACB= =not, then from (3)12a2+4a2(2a+1)4a2+4a+1+2a2+2(a22a1)+1cosACB= =not, then from (3)12a2+4a2(2a+1)8a2cosACB=12a2+4a42a(2a+1)cosACB. \begin{align*} 4a^2 &= (a^2 - c^2)^2 + (a-c)^2 + (a^2 - c^2)^2 + (c+a)^2 - \ &\quad 2\sqrt{(a^2 - c^2)^2 + (a-c)^2}\sqrt{(a^2 - c^2)^2 + (c+a)^2} \cos \angle ACB = 2(a^2 - c^2)^2 \ &\quad + 2(a^2 + c^2) - 2(a-c)\sqrt{(a+c)^2 + 1}(a+c)\sqrt{(a-c)^2 + 1} \cos \angle ACB = \ &\quad \phantom{+ 2(a^2 + c^2)} 2(a^2 - c^2)^2 + 2(a^2 + c^2) - \ &\quad -2(a^2 - c^2)\sqrt{(a^2 - c^2)^2 + (a+c)^2 + (a-c)^2 + 1} \cos \angle ACB \ &\stackrel{(*)}{=} 2(2a+1)^2 + \ &\quad +2(a^2 + a^2 - 2a - 1) - 2(2a+1)\sqrt{(2a+1)^2 + 2a^2 + 2c^2 + 1} \cos \angle ACB = \ &\stackrel{\text{not, then from (3)}}{=} 12a^2 + 4a - 2(2a+1)\sqrt{4a^2 + 4a + 1 + 2a^2 + 2(a^2-2a-1) + 1} \cos \angle ACB = \ &\stackrel{\text{not, then from (3)}}{=} 12a^2 + 4a - 2(2a+1)\sqrt{8a^2} \cos \angle ACB = 12a^2 + 4a - 4\sqrt{2a}(2a+1) \cos \angle ACB. \end{align*}
Thus,
42a(2a+1)cosACB=8a2+4a, 4\sqrt{2}a(2a+1) \cos \angle ACB = 8a^2 + 4a,
whence cosACB=1/2\cos \angle ACB = 1/\sqrt{2}, and therefore, ACB=45\angle ACB = 45^\circ.

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