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Geometry Difficulty 6.4 National olympiad Prove it Silk Road Mathematics Competition

Altitudes of an acute scalene triangle ABCABC meet at point HH. Points MM and NN are the midpoints of the segments ABAB and CHCH, respectively. RR is the foot of the perpendicular from HH to line CMCM. TT is the second intersection of the line MNMN with the circumcircle of triangle CNRCNR. Let PP be the circumcentre of the triangle formed by the lines CMCM, AHAH and BHBH. Prove that the lines HPHP and CTCT are perpendicular.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

We will make several uses of the fact that the lines connecting a vertex of a triangle with the circumcentre and the orthocentre are symmetrical with respect to the angle bisector at this vertex.
Let AC>BCAC > BC, AA1AA_1 and BB1BB_1 be the altitudes of the triangle ABCABC, OO its circumcentre. The points A1A_1, B1B_1 and RR lie on the circle with diameter CHCH. The triangles A1B1CA_1B_1C and ABCABC are similar, and their similarity ratio is A1CAC=cosC\frac{A_1C}{AC} = \cos C. Then the ratio of the circumradii of these triangles is also cosC\cos C, that is, CNAO=cosC\frac{CN}{AO} = \cos C, hence CN=AOcosC=OMCN = AO \cos C = OM. Since OMCNOM \parallel CN, COMNCOMN is a parallelogram. Let ACO=BCH=x\angle ACO = \angle BCH = x, OCM=NMC=y\angle OCM = \angle NMC = y, RCT=RNT=z\angle RCT = \angle RNT = z. Then, since NC=NRNC = NR, we have z+TCN=RCN=CRN=y+zz + \angle TCN = \angle RCN = \angle CRN = y + z, whence, TCN=y\angle TCN = y and the lines CTCT and CMCM are symmetrical with respect to the bisector of ACBACB. Since AHB1=ACB\angle AHB_1 = \angle ACB and AHP=RHB1=B1CR=BCT\angle AHP = RHB_1 = \angle B_1CR = \angle BCT, we have RCT=RHP\angle RCT = \angle RHP, that is, CC, RR, QQ and HH belong to the same circle with diameter CHCH (here Q=CTPHQ = CT \cap PH). The desired perpendicularity follows immediately.

Note. We have proved in this solution that CTCT lies on the symmedian of the triangle ABCABC.

Figure 1
Figure 2

Solution 2

Let AA1AA_1, BB1BB_1, and CC1CC_1 be the altitudes of the triangle ABCABC, and T1T_1 the midpoint of A1B1A_1B_1. Then MA1=MB1=AB/2MA_1 = MB_1 = AB/2, NA1=NB1=CH/2NA_1 = NB_1 = CH/2, therefore MNMN is the perpendicular bisector of A1B1A_1B_1. We will prove that T1=TT_1 = T.
Since CMCM and CT1CT_1 are respective medians in similar triangles ABCABC and A1B1CA_1B_1C, while ABAB and A1B1A_1B_1 are anti-parallel, CT1CT_1 lies on the symmedian CSCS of the triangle ABCABC. Let NRC=RCN=δ\angle NRC = \angle RCN = \delta. Then 90δ=CMB=CT1B1=ST1A190^\circ - \delta = \angle CMB = \angle CT_1B_1 = \angle ST_1A_1, hence δ=MT1S=CT1N\delta = \angle MT_1S = \angle CT_1N, that is, NRC=CT1N\angle NRC = \angle CT_1N, and it follows that T1T_1 belongs to the circumcircle of the triangle CNRCNR.
Next, as in the first solution, we can prove HPCTHP \perp CT. The proof is indeed complete.

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Figure 2

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