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Geometry Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Croatia

Let ABCABC be a triangle such that AB=AC|AB| = |AC|. Let DD be a point on the side ACAC such that AD<CD|AD| < |CD|, and let PP be a point on the segment BDBD such that APC=90\angle APC = 90^\circ. If ABP=BCP\angle ABP = \angle BCP, determine AD:CD|AD| : |CD|.
(Stipe Vidak)

Solution

Let us denote ABP=BCP=φ\angle ABP = \angle BCP = \varphi and PBC=PCA=ψ\angle PBC = \angle PCA = \psi.
Let TT be the midpoint of the segment ACAC. Since ACAC is the hypotenuse of the right triangle APCAPC, it follows that AT=PT=CT|AT| = |PT| = |CT|. Hence CPT=ψ\angle CPT = \psi.

Figure 1

Since DPC\angle DPC is the exterior angle of the triangle BCPBCP, we have
DPC=PCB+PBC=φ+ψ \angle DPC = \angle PCB + \angle PBC = \varphi + \psi
so DPT=φ\angle DPT = \varphi.

Applying the law of sines on triangles ABDABD and PDTPDT we get
ADAB=sinABDsinADB,DTPT=sinDPTsinPDT \frac{|AD|}{|AB|} = \frac{\sin \angle ABD}{\sin \angle ADB}, \quad \frac{|DT|}{|PT|} = \frac{\sin \angle DPT}{\sin \angle PDT}
and then
ADAB=sinABDsinADB=sinφsin(180ADB)=sinDPTsinPDT=DTPT \frac{|AD|}{|AB|} = \frac{\sin \angle ABD}{\sin \angle ADB} = \frac{\sin \varphi}{\sin (180^\circ - \angle ADB)} = \frac{\sin \angle DPT}{\sin \angle PDT} = \frac{|DT|}{|PT|}
Now it follows that
ADAC=ADAB=DTPT=ATADPT=12ACAD12AC=12ADAC \frac{|AD|}{|AC|} = \frac{|AD|}{|AB|} = \frac{|DT|}{|PT|} = \frac{|AT| - |AD|}{|PT|} = \frac{\frac{1}{2}|AC| - |AD|}{\frac{1}{2}|AC|} = 1 - 2 \cdot \frac{|AD|}{|AC|}
so AD:AC=1:3|AD| : |AC| = 1 : 3. The desired ratio is AD:CD=1:2|AD| : |CD| = 1 : 2.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.