Olympiad Maths Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 8.1 Shortlist Prove it IMO

The diagonals of a trapezoid ABCDABCD intersect at point PP. Point QQ lies between the parallel lines BCBC and ADAD such that AQD=CQB\angle AQD = \angle CQB, and line CDCD separates points PP and QQ. Prove that BQP=DAQ\angle BQP = \angle DAQ.

Solution

Let t=ADBCt = \frac{AD}{BC}. Consider the homothety hh with center PP and scale t-t. Triangles PDAPDA and PBCPBC are similar with ratio tt, hence h(B)=Dh(B) = D and h(C)=Ah(C) = A.

Figure 1

Let Q=h(Q)Q' = h(Q) (see Figure 1). Then points QQ, PP and QQ' are obviously collinear. Points QQ and PP lie on the same side of ADAD, as well as on the same side of BCBC; hence QQ' and PP are also on the same side of h(BC)=ADh(BC) = AD, and therefore QQ and QQ' are on the same side of ADAD. Moreover, points QQ and CC are on the same side of BDBD, while QQ' and AA are on the opposite side (see Figure above).

By the homothety, AQD=CQB=AQD\angle AQ'D = \angle CQB = \angle AQD, hence quadrilateral AQQDAQ'QD is cyclic. Then
DAQ=DQQ=DQP=BQP \angle DAQ = \angle DQ'Q = \angle DQ'P = \angle BQP
(the latter equality is valid by the homothety again).

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