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Geometry Difficulty 7.2 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Vietnam

On the plane, let ABCABC be the acute and non-isosceles triangle. Let B,CB', C' be the symmetric points of B,CB, C with respect to the lines CA,ABCA, AB, respectively. Assume that BC,BCBC', B'C meet at A0A_0. Let A1A_1 be the circumcenter of triangle ABCAB'C' and A2A_2 be the center of the circle passing through the projections of A0A_0 on the lines BC,CA,ABBC, CA, AB. The points B1,B2,C1,C2B_1, B_2, C_1, C_2 are defined similarly.

Prove that A1A2,B1B2,C1C2A_1A_2, B_1B_2, C_1C_2 are concurrent at the Euler point of the triangle ABCABC.

Solution

First, we will prove two following lemmas:

Lemma 1.

Let ABCABC be the acute and non-isosceles triangle. The points M,NM,N are the feet of the perpendicular line from AA to the exterior angle bisector B,CB,C of triangle ABCABC. Let PP be the tangent point of line BCBC and the excircle (I)(I) with respect to BCBC, AQAQ is the altitude of triangle ABCABC. Then MNPQMNPQ is the isosceles trapezoid and PP is the orthocenter of triangle MNIMNI.

Prove.

Figure 1

Without loss of generality, we can assume that AB<ACAB < AC. Let D,ED,E be the intersection of AM,ANAM,AN and the line BCBC. It is easy to see that triangle BADBAD is isosceles with BA=BDBA = BD and BMBM is the altitude of this triangle (with MADM \in AD) then MM is also the midpoint of segment ADAD. Similarly, NN is the midpoint of segment AEAE. Hence, the line MNMN is parallel to the line BCBC.

We also have DP=EP=AB+BC+CA2DP = EP = \frac{AB + BC + CA}{2}, then point PP is the midpoint of segment DEDE. Because QN=12AE=MPQN = \frac{1}{2}AE = MP, then the quadrilateral MNPQMNPQ is isosceles trapezoid. Furthermore, we have PMAE,NIAEPM \parallel AE, NI \perp AE, so PMNIPM \perp NI; similarly, PNMIPN \perp MI then PP is the orthocenter of triangle MNIMNI. The lemma is proved.

Lemma 2.

Let triangle ABCABC have the centroid GG and point DD is the projection of the Euler point of triangle ABCABC on ACAC and EE is the symmetric point of point BB about line ACAC. Prove that GE=4GD\overrightarrow{GE} = 4\overrightarrow{GD}.

Figure 2

Let H,N,OH,N,O be orthocenter, Euler point and circumcenter of triangle ABCABC.
Assume that K,D,MK,D,M in order are the projections of H,N,OH,N,O on the line ACAC.
Because NN is the midpoint of the segment OHOH so DD is also the midpoint of segment KMKM. It is easy to see that
GNGH=14andND=12(OM+HK)=14BH+14(HEBH)=14HE. \frac{GN}{GH} = \frac{1}{4} \quad \text{and} \quad ND = \frac{1}{2}(OM + HK) = \frac{1}{4}BH + \frac{1}{4}(HE - BH) = \frac{1}{4}HE.
Hence, GNGH=NDHE\frac{GN}{GH} = \frac{ND}{HE} so G,D,EG,D,E are collinear and GE=4GDGE = 4GD. The lemma is proved.

Back to the original problem, let EE be the Euler point of triangle ABCABC. First, we will prove that the line AA1AA_1 passes through the point EE.

Indeed, we know that in a triangle, the circumcenter and the orthocenter are isogonal conjugate points. We have BAC=BAC=BAC\angle BAC' = \angle BAC = \angle B'AC then AB,ACAB', AC' are symmetric about the angle bisector of BAC\angle BAC. Then, each pair of isogonal lines with respect to angle AA in triangle ABCABC is also a pair of isogonal lines with respect to angle AA in triangle ABCAB'C'; so we have to prove that the isogonal line of AEAE with respect to angle AA in triangle ABCABC passes through the orthocenter of triangle ABCAB'C'. Let B,CB'', C'' be the projections of point EE on the segment AC,ABAC, AB. Based on Lemma 2, B,CB', C' are the image of B,CB'', C'' under the dilation center GG, ratio 4 with GG as the centroid of triangle ABCABC.

Figure 3

From this result, we get BCBCB'C' \parallel B''C''. And based on the properties of isogonal conjugates, the isogonal line of AEAE is perpendicular to BCB''C'' and this exactly is the altitude from AA of triangle ABCAB'C'. Then, the isogonal line of AEAE in triangle ABCAB'C' passes through the orthocenter of triangle ABCAB'C', or the line AA1AA_1 passes through point EE.

Next, we will prove that AA2AA_2 also passes through EE. Let O,HO,H be the circumcenter and orthocenter of triangle ABCABC, respectively; R,SR,S be the projections of point EE on the sides AB,ACAB, AC, respectively and R,SR,S are the midpoints of segment AB,ACAB, AC, respectively. Let M,N,PM,N,P be the projections of A0A_0 on the lines AB,BC,CAAB, BC, CA, respectively.

It is easy to see that ORA0M,OSA0POR \parallel A_0M, OS \parallel A_0P so if we set k=ARAM=ASAPk = \frac{AR}{AM} = \frac{AS}{AP} then the dilation Φ\Phi center AA, ratio kk such that Φ:RM,Φ:SP\Phi: R \to M, \Phi: S \to P and Φ:OA0\Phi: O \to A_0.

Then point AA is the center of the excircle opposite to A0A_0 of triangle A0BCA_0BC and M,PM,P are the projections of A0A_0 on the exterior angle bisector of B,CB,C of triangle A0BCA_0BC.

Based on Lemma 1, MPBCMP \parallel BC and if KK is the projection of AA on the line BCBC then quadrilateral MKNPMKNP is an isosceles trapezoid. Hence, KK belongs to the circle (A2A_2) and KK is the orthocenter of triangle AMPAMP.

Let TT be the midpoint of segment AHAH then T(E)T \in (E). So RTBHRT \parallel BH and BHMKBH \parallel MK leads to RTMKRT \parallel MK and Φ:TK\Phi: T \to K.

Therefore, Φ:ΔRSTΔMPK\Phi: \Delta RST \to \Delta MPK or Φ:EA2\Phi: E \to A_2 (because EE is the center of the circle passing through three points R,S,TR,S,T).

Then three points A,E,A2A,E,A_2 are collinear. Mixing with the above result, we get A,A1,A2,EA, A_1, A_2, E are all collinear or line A1A2A_1A_2 passes through point EE.

It's quite similar to prove that B1B2,C1C2B_1B_2, C_1C_2 also pass through point EE.

So A1A2,B1B2,C1C2A_1A_2, B_1B_2, C_1C_2 are concurrent at the Euler point EE of triangle ABCABC. (Q.E.D)

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