Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2013

Geometry Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:

Let ABCABC be an obtuse triangle with circumcenter OO such that ABC=15\angle ABC = 15^{\circ} and BAC>90\angle BAC > 90^{\circ}. Suppose that AOAO meets BCBC at DD, and that OD2+OCDC=OC2OD^{2} + OC \cdot DC = OC^{2}. Find C\angle C.

Solution

Solution:

Let the radius of the circumcircle of ABC\triangle ABC be rr.

OD2+OCDC=OC2OCDC=OC2OD2OCDC=(OC+OD)(OCOD)OCDC=(r+OD)(rOD) \begin{gathered} OD^{2} + OC \cdot DC = OC^{2} \\ OC \cdot DC = OC^{2} - OD^{2} \\ OC \cdot DC = (OC + OD)(OC - OD) \\ OC \cdot DC = (r + OD)(r - OD) \end{gathered}

By the power of the point at DD,

OCDC=BDDCr=BD \begin{gathered} OC \cdot DC = BD \cdot DC \\ r = BD \end{gathered}

Then, OBD\triangle OBD, OAB\triangle OAB, and AOC\triangle AOC are isosceles triangles. Let DOB=α\angle DOB = \alpha. BAO=90α2\angle BAO = 90 - \frac{\alpha}{2}. In ABD\triangle ABD, 15+90α2=α15 + 90 - \frac{\alpha}{2} = \alpha. This means that α=70\alpha = 70.

Furthermore, ACB\angle ACB intercepts minor arc ABAB, thus ACB=AOB2=702=35\angle ACB = \frac{\angle AOB}{2} = \frac{70}{2} = 35.

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