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IMO Shortlist, 2011

Geometry Difficulty 8.5 Shortlist Prove it IMO

Let ABCABC be an acute triangle with circumcircle Ω\Omega. Let B0B_{0} be the midpoint of ACAC and let C0C_{0} be the midpoint of ABAB. Let DD be the foot of the altitude from AA, and let GG be the centroid of the triangle ABCABC. Let ω\omega be a circle through B0B_{0} and C0C_{0} that is tangent to the circle Ω\Omega at a point X≠AX \neq A. Prove that the points DD, GG, and XX are collinear.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

If AB=ACAB = AC, then the statement is trivial. So without loss of generality we may assume AB<ACAB < AC. Denote the tangents to Ω\Omega at points AA and XX by aa and xx, respectively.
Let Ω1\Omega_{1} be the circumcircle of triangle AB0C0AB_{0}C_{0}. The circles Ω\Omega and Ω1\Omega_{1} are homothetic with center AA, so they are tangent at AA, and aa is their radical axis. Now, the lines aa, xx, and B0C0B_{0}C_{0} are the three radical axes of the circles Ω\Omega, Ω1\Omega_{1}, and ω\omega. Since a∤∤B0C0a \nmid\nmid B_{0}C_{0}, these three lines are concurrent at some point WW.
The points AA and DD are symmetric with respect to the line B0C0B_{0}C_{0}; hence WX=WA=WDWX = WA = WD. This means that WW is the center of the circumcircle γ\gamma of triangle ADXADX. Moreover, we have ∠WAO=∠WXO=90∘\angle WAO = \angle WXO = 90^{\circ}, where OO denotes the center of Ω\Omega. Hence ∠AWX+∠AOX=180∘\angle AWX + \angle AOX = 180^{\circ}.

Figure 1

Denote by TT the second intersection point of Ω\Omega and the line DXDX. Note that OO belongs to Ω1\Omega_{1}. Using the circles γ\gamma and Ω\Omega, we find
∠DAT=∠ADX−∠ATD=12(360∘−∠AWX)−12∠AOX=180∘−12(∠AWX+∠AOX)=90∘. \angle DAT = \angle ADX - \angle ATD = \frac{1}{2}\left(360^{\circ} - \angle AWX\right) - \frac{1}{2} \angle AOX = 180^{\circ} - \frac{1}{2}(\angle AWX + \angle AOX) = 90^{\circ}.
So, AD⊥ATAD \perp AT, and hence AT∥BCAT \parallel BC. Thus, ATCBATCB is an isosceles trapezoid inscribed in Ω\Omega.
Denote by A0A_{0} the midpoint of BCBC, and consider the image of ATCBATCB under the homothety hh with center GG and factor −12-\frac{1}{2}. We have h(A)=A0h(A) = A_{0}, h(B)=B0h(B) = B_{0}, and h(C)=C0h(C) = C_{0}. From the symmetry about B0C0B_{0}C_{0}, we have ∠TCB=∠CBA=∠B0C0A=∠DC0B0\angle TCB = \angle CBA = \angle B_{0}C_{0}A = \angle DC_{0}B_{0}. Using AT∥DA0AT \parallel DA_{0}, we conclude h(T)=Dh(T) = D. Hence the points DD, GG, and TT are collinear, and XX lies on the same line.

Solution 2

We define the points A0A_{0}, OO, and WW as in the previous solution and we concentrate on the case AB<ACAB < AC. Let QQ be the perpendicular projection of A0A_{0} on B0C0B_{0}C_{0}.
Since ∠WAO=∠WQO=∠OXW=90∘\angle WAO = \angle WQO = \angle OXW = 90^{\circ}, the five points AA, WW, XX, OO, and QQ lie on a common circle. Furthermore, the reflections with respect to B0C0B_{0}C_{0} and OWOW map AA to DD and XX, respectively. For these reasons, we have
∠WQD=∠AQW=∠AXW=∠WAX=∠WQX. \angle WQD = \angle AQW = \angle AXW = \angle WAX = \angle WQX.
Thus the three points QQ, DD, and XX lie on a common line, say ℓ\ell.

Figure 2

To complete the argument, we note that the homothety centered at GG sending the triangle ABCABC to the triangle A0B0C0A_{0}B_{0}C_{0} maps the altitude ADAD to the altitude A0QA_{0}Q. Therefore it maps DD to QQ, so the points DD, GG, and QQ are collinear. Hence GG lies on ℓ\ell as well.

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