Olympiad Maths Prep

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Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Let ABCABC be a non-equilateral triangle such that m(A)=60m(\angle A) = 60^\circ. Let DD and EE be the intersection points of the Euler line of triangle ABCABC and the sides of the angle BAC\angle BAC. Prove that the triangle ADEADE is equilateral.

Solution

Let HH and OO be the orthocenter and the circumcenter of ABCABC, RR the radius of the circumcenter; then OHOH meets the line ABAB at DD and the line ACAC at EE. Let BB' be the foot of the altitude from BB and CC' be the foot of the altitude from CC.

Since BCCBBCC'B' is a cyclic quadrilateral we have ABCABC\angle AB'C' \equiv \angle ABC. Hence ABCABC\triangle AB'C' \sim \triangle ABC, having the similarity ratio ACAC=cos(BAC^)=12\frac{AC'}{AC} = \cos(\widehat{BAC}) = \frac{1}{2}. It follows that the similarity ratio is the same with the ratio of the diameters of the circumcircles of triangles ABCAB'C' and ABCABC, so AH2R=12\frac{AH}{2R} = \frac{1}{2}, which leads to AH=R=AOAH = R = AO. (1)

It is known that the rays (AHAH and (AOAO are isogonal, so BAOCAH\angle BAO \equiv \angle CAH. (2) From (1) it results that AOHAHO\angle AOH \equiv \angle AHO, so AODAHE\angle AOD \equiv \angle AHE. Using (1) and (2), it follows that triangles AODAOD and AHEAHE are congruent, so AD=AEAD = AE and the conclusion follows.

Figure 1

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