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Slovenia — National Math Olympiad

Geometry Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it Slovenia

Let ABCABC be an isosceles triangle with the apex at CC. Let DD and EE be two points on the sides ACAC and BCBC, such that the angle bisectors ∠DEB\angle DEB and ∠ADE\angle ADE meet at FF, which lies on the segment ABAB. Prove that FF is the midpoint of ABAB.

Solution

Denote ∠BAC=α\angle BAC = \alpha, ∠ADF=φ\angle ADF = \varphi and ∠FEB=ψ\angle FEB = \psi. The triangle ABCABC is isosceles with the apex at CC, so ∠CBA=∠BAC=α\angle CBA = \angle BAC = \alpha. The segments DFDF and EFEF bisect the angles ∠ADE\angle ADE and ∠DEB\angle DEB, so ∠FDE=φ\angle FDE = \varphi and ∠DEF=ψ\angle DEF = \psi.

The sum of the inner angles of a quadrilateral is equal to 360∘360^\circ. Hence, for the quadrilateral ABEDABED we have
360∘=∠BAD+∠ADE+∠DEB+∠EBA=α+2φ+2ψ+α. 360^\circ = \angle BAD + \angle ADE + \angle DEB + \angle EBA \\ = \alpha + 2\varphi + 2\psi + \alpha.
which implies α+φ+ψ=180∘\alpha + \varphi + \psi = 180^\circ.

The sum of the inner angles of a triangle is 180∘180^\circ, so ∠DFA=180∘−α−φ=ψ\angle DFA = 180^\circ - \alpha - \varphi = \psi, ∠BFE=180∘−α−ψ=φ\angle BFE = 180^\circ - \alpha - \psi = \varphi and ∠DFE=180∘−φ−ψ=α\angle DFE = 180^\circ - \varphi - \psi = \alpha. The triangles AFDAFD, FEDFED and BEFBEF have all three inner angles in common, so they are similar. This implies that
Figure 1
∣AF∣∣FD∣=∣FE∣∣ED∣and∣FD∣∣ED∣=∣BF∣∣EF∣. \frac{|AF|}{|FD|} = \frac{|FE|}{|ED|} \quad \text{and} \quad \frac{|FD|}{|ED|} = \frac{|BF|}{|EF|}.
or
∣AF∣=∣FE∣⋅∣FD∣∣ED∣=∣EF∣⋅∣FD∣∣ED∣=∣BF∣. |AF| = \frac{|FE| \cdot |FD|}{|ED|} = |EF| \cdot \frac{|FD|}{|ED|} = |BF|.
We have shown that FF is the midpoint of the segment ABAB.

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