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International Mathematical Olympiad

Geometry Difficulty 8.6 Shortlist Prove it IMO

Let ABCABC be an acute-angled triangle with AC>ABAC > AB, let OO be its circumcentre, and let DD be a point on the segment BCBC. The line through DD perpendicular to BCBC intersects the lines AOAO, ACAC and ABAB at WW, XX and YY, respectively. The circumcircles of triangles AXYAXY and ABCABC intersect again at Z≠AZ \neq A.
Prove that if OW=ODOW = OD, then DZDZ is tangent to the circle AXYAXY.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Let AOAO intersect BCBC at EE. As EDWEDW is a right-angled triangle and OO is on WEWE, the condition OW=ODOW = OD means OO is the circumcentre of this triangle. So OD=OEOD = OE which establishes that D,ED, E are reflections in the perpendicular bisector of BCBC.

Now observe:
180∘−∠DXZ=∠ZXY=∠ZAY=∠ZCD, 180^{\circ} - \angle DXZ = \angle ZXY = \angle ZAY = \angle ZCD,
which shows CDXZCDXZ is cyclic.

Figure 1

We next show that AZ∥BCAZ \parallel BC. To do this, introduce point Z′Z' on circle ABCABC such that AZ′∥BCAZ' \parallel BC. By the previous result, it suffices to prove that CDXZ′CDXZ' is cyclic. Notice that triangles BAEBAE and CZ′DCZ'D are reflections in the perpendicular bisector of BCBC. Using this and that A,O,EA, O, E are collinear:
∠DZ′C=∠BAE=∠BAO=90∘−12∠AOB=90∘−∠C=∠DXC, \angle DZ'C = \angle BAE = \angle BAO = 90^{\circ} - \frac{1}{2} \angle AOB = 90^{\circ} - \angle C = \angle DXC,
so DXZ′CDXZ'C is cyclic, giving Z≡Z′Z \equiv Z' as desired.

Using AZ∥BCAZ \parallel BC and CDXZCDXZ cyclic we get:
∠AZD=∠CDZ=∠CXZ=∠AYZ, \angle AZD = \angle CDZ = \angle CXZ = \angle AYZ,
which by the converse of alternate segment theorem shows DZDZ is tangent to circle AXYAXY.

Solution 2

Notice that point ZZ is the Miquel-point of lines ACAC, BCBC, BABA and DYDY; then B,D,Z,YB, D, Z, Y and C,D,X,YC, D, X, Y are concyclic. Moreover, ZZ is the centre of the spiral similarity that maps BCBC to YXYX.

By BC⊥YXBC \perp YX, the angle of that similarity is 90∘90^{\circ}; hence the circles ABCZABCZ and AXYZAXYZ are perpendicular, therefore the radius OZOZ in circle ABCZABCZ is tangent to circle AXYZAXYZ.

Figure 2

By OW=ODOW = OD, the triangle OWDOWD is isosceles, and
∠ZOA=2∠ZBA=2∠ZBY=2∠ZDY=∠ODW+∠DWO, \angle ZOA = 2 \angle ZBA = 2 \angle ZBY = 2 \angle ZDY = \angle ODW + \angle DWO,
so DD lies on line ZOZO that is tangent to circle AXYAXY.

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