Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 7.1 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it South Korea

Given a triangle ABCABC with AC=BC>ABAC = BC > AB, let EE and FF be the midpoints of ACAC and ABAB, respectively. The perpendicular bisector \ell of ACAC meets ABAB at KK and the line parallel to KCKC and passing through the point BB intersects ACAC at a point LL. For a point PP on the line segment BFBF, let HH be the orthocenter of the triangle ACPACP. The line segments BHBH and CPCP meet at a point JJ and the lines FJFJ and \ell meet at a point MM. Let WW be the intersection point of FLFL and \ell. Show that AW=BWAW = BW if and only if the points B,E,F,MB, E, F, M are concyclic.

Solution

Let WW' be the circumcenter of the triangle ACPACP, and let LL' be the intersection point of the line FWFW' and the side ACAC. Note that the points A,F,CA, F, C and the foot TT of the perpendicular from AA to PCPC are on the circle with a diameter ACAC, and thus PATPCF\angle PAT - \angle PCF. Since AC=BCAC = BC and FF is the midpoint of ABAB, HAF=HBF\angle HAF = \angle HBF, and so PBJ=HCJ\angle PBJ = \angle HCJ, which along with PJB=HJC\angle PJB = \angle HJC induce that the triangles PBJPBJ and HCJHCJ are similar to each other. Therefore, for the feet of the perpendiculars from JJ to FPFP and FCFC, XJJY=BPCH\frac{XJ}{JY} = \frac{BP}{CH}. Let SS be the foot of the perpendicular from WW' to APAP. Then HC=2WSHC = 2W'S and
BP=BFPF=AF(PFFS)=AF(ASFS)=2FS. BP = BF - PF = AF - (PF - FS) = AF - (AS - FS) = 2FS.
It follows that XJXF=FSWS\frac{XJ}{XF} = \frac{FS}{W'S}. Hence JXF\triangle JXF is similar to FSW\triangle FSW', and thus JFX=FWS\angle JFX = \angle FW'S. Since WSW'S is parallel to CFCF, FWS=CFW\angle FW'S = \angle CFW', Thereby JFX=CFW\angle JFX = \angle CFW'. Now, since PFC=90\angle PFC = 90^\circ, JFL=JFW=90\angle JFL' = \angle JFW' = 90^\circ, which along with MEL=90\angle MEL' = 90^\circ implies that the points EE and FF lie on the circle with a diameter MLML'.

Suppose AW=PWAW = PW, in which case WW is the circumcenter of APC\triangle APC, AW=PW=CWAW = PW = CW. From the fact we proved above, EE and FF lie on the circle with a diameter MLML. Since the circumcenter OO of ABC\triangle ABC is the orthocenter of AKC\triangle AKC, AOAO is orthogonal to KCKC. But BLBL is parallel to KCKC, and so AOAO is orthogonal to BLBL. Thus ABL+BAO=90\angle ABL + \angle BAO = 90^\circ. Note that A,F,O,EA, F, O, E are concyclic, and thus BAO=MEF\angle BAO = \angle MEF, from which we can conclude FBL+FEL=ABL+MEF+90=180\angle FBL + \angle FEL = \angle ABL + \angle MEF + 90^\circ = 180^\circ. This implies that F,B,M,L,EF, B, M, L, E are concyclic.

Conversely, suppose B,E,F,MB, E, F, M are concyclic. Since EE and FF lie on the circle with a diameter MLML', MBL=90\angle MBL' = 90^\circ. It can be easily seen that MBK=MEF=BAO\angle MBK = \angle MEF = \angle BAO, and so BMBM is parallel to AOAO. It follows that AOAO and BLBL' are orthogonal to each other, thereby BLBL' and KCKC being parallel to each other. Therefore, BL=BLBL' = BL, which implies L=LL' = L and W=WW' = W. \square

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