Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /5 of 10

Geometry Difficulty 6.3 National Olympiad Prove it Mongolia

Let ABCDABCD be a trapezoid with obtuse angle at vertex DD. The diagonals ACAC and BDBD meet at OO and the line through OO parallel to ABAB meets the circumcircle of BCOBCO again at PP. The circumcircles of ADOADO and BCOBCO intersect again at QQ. Prove that the line PQPQ bisects the segment BCBC.

Solution

Figure 1
Since OPABOP \parallel AB and PP, CC, OO, QQ, BB are cyclic, we have POC=PQC=PBC=α\angle POC = \angle PQC = \angle PBC = \alpha and POB=PCB=PQB\angle POB = \angle PCB = \angle PQB. It follows that OABBPC\triangle OAB \sim \triangle BPC. Hence
BPPC=OAOB. \frac{BP}{PC} = \frac{OA}{OB}.
Because ABCDABCD is a trapezoid, we have
OCOA=ODOB    1+OCOA=OCOB+1    ACBD=OAOB \frac{OC}{OA} = \frac{OD}{OB} \iff 1 + \frac{OC}{OA} = \frac{OC}{OB} + 1 \iff \frac{AC}{BD} = \frac{OA}{OB}
From this, we deduce that
BPPC=ACBD. \frac{BP}{PC} = \frac{AC}{BD}.
On the other hand, we have QCQB=ACDB\frac{QC}{QB} = \frac{AC}{DB} since AQCDQB\triangle AQC \sim \triangle DQB. Consequently,
QCQB=BPPC. Now by the law of sines \frac{QC}{QB} = \frac{BP}{PC}. \text{ Now by the law of sines}
CMMB=CMMPMPMB=sinCPMsinMCPsinCBPsinMPB=CQPBCPBQ=1. \frac{CM}{MB} = \frac{CM}{MP} \cdot \frac{MP}{MB} = \frac{\sin \angle CPM}{\sin \angle MCP} \cdot \frac{\sin \angle CBP}{\sin \angle MPB} = \frac{CQ}{PB} \cdot \frac{CP}{BQ} = 1.

Thus CM=MBCM = MB.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

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