Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 4.7 AIME Prove it United States

Problem:

The inscribed circle of a triangle ABCABC touches the sides BCBC, CACA, ABAB at DD, EE, and FF respectively. Let XX, YY, and ZZ be the incenters of triangles AEFAEF, BFDBFD, and CDECDE, respectively. Prove that DXDX, EYEY, and CZCZ meet at one point.

Solution

Solution:

Consider the midpoint MM of arc EFEF on the incircle of ABC\triangle ABC. Angles AFMAFM and MFEMFE are equal since they intercept equal arcs FMFM and MEME, and so MM is on the bisector of AFE\angle AFE. Similarly, MM is on the bisector of FEA\angle FEA, and therefore MM coincides with XX. Moreover, angles FDXFDX and XDEXDE are equal since they intercept equal arcs FXFX and XEXE, and so DXDX is the angle bisector of D\angle D in DEF\triangle DEF. Similarly, EYEY and FZFZ are the other two angle bisectors in DEF\triangle DEF. But the three angle bisectors in a triangle always meet!

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