Maths Olympiad Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

ABAB and CDCD are two parallel line segments. ADAD and BCBC intersect at PP. Prove that the circumcircles of the triangles ABPABP and CDPCDP touch at PP.

Solution

Whether or not PP lies between the parallel lines gives two cases to distinguish. Let SS and TT be points on the tangent to the circumcircle of ABP\triangle ABP at PP such that SS and AA are on the same side of the line BCBC and TT and BB are on the same side of ADAD.

First Solution:
We have SPA=PBA\angle SPA = \angle PBA (chord tangent angle). Because ABCDAB \parallel CD, we also have PBA=PCD\angle PBA = \angle PCD, hence SPA=PCD\angle SPA = \angle PCD. If PP lies between the parallel lines, SPA=TPD\angle SPA = \angle TPD and so PCD=TPD\angle PCD = \angle TPD. In both cases it follows that STST is tangent to the circumcircle of DCP\triangle DCP.

Figure 1

Second Solution:
If PP is between the parallel lines, reflect AA and BB at PP to get AA' on PDPD and BB' on PCPC. If PP is not between the parallel lines we simply let A=AA' = A and B=BB' = B.

Figure 2

Because ABCDA'B' \parallel CD the triangle PDCPDC is obtained from PAB\triangle PA'B' by a homothety with centre PP. Hence, the circumcentres of the triangles PDCPDC and PABPA'B' are on a line through PP, on which we also find the circumcentre of PAB\triangle PAB. As the tangent at PP to these circles is perpendicular to the line through PP and the centres, it follows now that the circumcircles of PAB\triangle PAB and PDC\triangle PDC touch at PP.

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