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Geometry Difficulty 8.7 Shortlist Prove it Romania

Let ABCABC and DEFDEF be triangles with the same circumcircle centred at OO and the same orthocentre HOH \neq O. The Simson lines of D,E,FD, E, F with respect to triangle ABCABC form a non-degenerate triangle \triangle. Prove that the orthocentre of \triangle lies on the circle on diameter OHOH.

Note. Assume that A,F,B,D,C,EA, F, B, D, C, E form, in order around the circle, the vertex set of a non-degenerate convex hexagon.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Let D,E,F\ell_D, \ell_E, \ell_F be the Simson lines of D,E,FD, E, F with respect to triangle ABCABC and let X=EFX = \ell_E \cap \ell_F, Y=FDY = \ell_F \cap \ell_D and Z=DEZ = \ell_D \cap \ell_E. Let D,E,FD', E', F' be the midpoints of HD,HE,HFHD, HE, HF, respectively, and let HH' be the orthocentre of \triangle.

Note that D\ell_D passes through DD'. This is a well-known fact about Simson lines. For the sake of completeness we provide a proof: Let DBD_B and DCD_C be the reflections of DD in ABAB and ACAC, respectively. As the quadrangles AHBDBAHBD_B and AHCDCAHCD_C are both cyclic, AHDB+AHDC=ABDB+ACDC=ABD+ACD=180\angle AHD_B + \angle AHD_C = \angle ABD_B + \angle ACD_C = \angle ABD + \angle ACD = 180^\circ, so DB,H,DCD_B, H, D_C are collinear. A factor 12\frac{1}{2} homothety from DD settles the case.

Claim 1. The quadrangles HEXF,HFYD,HDZEHE'XF', HF'YD', HD'ZE' are cyclic.
Proof. Let rEr_E and rFr_F be the rays from AA isogonal in BAC\angle BAC to rays AEAE and AFAF, respectively. Note that rEEr_E \perp \ell_E and rFFr_F \perp \ell_F to write EXF=(rE,rF)=180EAF=EDF=180EHF\angle E'XF' = \angle (r_E, r_F) = 180^\circ - \angle EAF = \angle EDF = 180^\circ - \angle E'HF'. Hence HEXFHE'XF' is cyclic. Similarly, HFYDHF'YD' and HDZEHD'ZE' are both cyclic.

Claim 2. HH is the circumcentre of \triangle.
Proof. As HH is also the orthocentre of triangle DEFD'E'F', it follows that HYZ=HFD=HED=HZY\angle HYZ = \angle HF'D' = \angle HE'D' = \angle HZY, so HY=HZHY = HZ. Similarly, HX=HYHX = HY and the claim follows.

As D,E,FD', E', F' lie on the nine-point circle of triangle DEFDEF, the midpoint OO' of OHOH is the circumcentre of triangle DEFD'E'F'. Proving that HH' lies on the circle on diameter OHOH is equivalent to proving OH=OHO'H' = O'H. The conclusion is then a consequence of Claim 3 below applied to \triangle and points D,E,FD', E', F'.

Claim 3. Let ABCABC be a triangle with orthocentre HH and circumcentre OHO \neq H. Let X,Y,ZX, Y, Z be points on the sides BC,CA,ABBC, CA, AB, respectively, such that circles AYZ,BZX,CXYAYZ, BZX, CXY are concurrent at OO. Then the circumcentre of triangle XYZXYZ lies on the perpendicular bisectrix of OHOH.

Proof. Note that triangles YOZYOZ and BHCBHC are similar and the like. Then so are XYZOXYZO and ABCHABCH. Letting OO' be the circumcentre of triangle XYZXYZ, it follows that XYZOOXYZOO' and ABCHOABCHO are also similar. In particular, triangles XOOXOO' and AHOAHO are similar. Varying XX along the line BCBC shows that OO' is the image of XX under a spiral-similarity from OO. Consequently, OO' lies on some fixed line \ell.

As AHAH and BCBC are perpendicular, the angle formed by \ell and OHOH is equal to the angle formed by OHOH and the image of BCBC under a rotation through AHO=90\angle AHO = 90^\circ. Letting X,Y,ZX, Y, Z be the midpoints of BC,CA,ABBC, CA, AB, respectively, it follows that \ell passes through the midpoint of OHOH. Combining these two observations, it follows that \ell is perpendicular bisectrix of OHOH, as desired. This ends the proof and completes the solution.

Solution 2

As usual, the complex coordinate of a point in the plane is denoted by the corresponding lower case letter. Use the notation in Solution 1 and let the circumcircle of triangles ABCABC and DEFDEF be centred at the origin and have unit radius. Thus, a,b,c,d,e,fa, b, c, d, e, f all have a unit absolute value, i.e., aaˉ=bbˉ==ffˉ=1a\bar{a} = b\bar{b} = \ldots = f\bar{f} = 1 and
h=a+b+c=d+e+f=12(a+b+c+d+e+f). h = a + b + c = d + e + f = \frac{1}{2}(a + b + c + d + e + f).

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