Let be a cyclic quadrangle and let and be the midpoints of the sides and , respectively. The circle through and tangent to crosses the line again at and the circle through and tangent to crosses the line again at . Let be the tangent of the circle at and let be the tangent of the circle at . Prove that the lines , and are concurrent.
Solution
We first prove that the triangles and are similar. Since is cyclic, ; and since is tangent to the circle , . Consequently, the triangles and are similar.
Let be the midpoint of . The points and correspond under the above similarity, so .
Let the line meet the circle again at (possibly, ). Notice that , so is tangent to the circle .
Similarly, is tangent to the circle and the conclusion follows.
Alternative solution.
We prove the conclusion under the weaker assumptions that is merely convex and .
Let and meet at ; if the two are parallel, then is their common ideal point. Let cross and at and , respectively. We will show that , whence the conclusion.
Let and be the ideal points of and , respectively. The line pencils
() and ()
are congruent, since , and . Hence . Similarly, .
Finally, recall the assumption . By the preceding, , so , as desired. This ends the proof.